NATS 1745 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: New Moon, Eclipse Cycle, Eclipse Records
23 Oct 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon (full) passes through earth"s shadow: Penumbral eclipse: when moon passes through earth"s penumbral. Partial eclipse: part of the moon passes through earth"s umbra. Due to the 5 degree tilt of the moon"s orbit, earth, moon and sun are usually not in the same. Eclipse seasons (when moon, earth and sun are coplanar) only occur 2-3 times per year and. 1 lunar/yr & 1 solar/1. 5yrs are seen (solar seen less since observer must be in moon"s shadow): the mayan eclipse records: 8 pages of the dresden codex contain symbolic illustrations of eclipses. Bottom of each page contains a series of 177s and 148s (# days between eclipse seasons) Above each 177 (or 148) are the range of mayan dates expected for that season"s eclipse. The table spans 1 complete eclipse cycle of mayan dates, so eclipse warnings could be.
