And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp

Shakespeare, eclipses, and the theory of relativity.

LENNOX: The night has been unruly. Where we lay, 

Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say, 

Lamentings heard I’ th’ air, strange screams of death, 

And prophesying with accents terrible 

Of dire combustion and confused events 

New hatched to the woeful time. The obscure bird 

Clamored the livelong night. Some say the Earth 

Was feverous and did shake.  

MACBETH: ’Twas a rough night.

ROSS: Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act, 

Threatens his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day, 

And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp. 

Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame 

That darkness does the face of Earth entomb 

When living light should kiss it? 

Macbeth Witches-J.A.Koch, 1835

Here are the lines that end the opening scene of Macbeth, a magnificent work full of incredible insights for those who love the universe and its mysteries. The whole of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is full of strange and unnatural events that are a reflection of Macbeth’s treacherous actions. The power of evil upsets the natural order of things, confuses people, and above all, obscures the light. I’m not a literary expert at all, but I’ve read a lot about how Shakespeare’s works are connected to his observations of the universe. Well, the probable solar eclipse described in Macbeth may be a reference to the total solar eclipse he saw on October 12, 1605.

The sudden disappearance of sunlight

Of all the celestial phenomena visible to the naked eye, eclipses are perhaps the most intriguing and exciting. A fascinating and terrifying sight. The sudden disappearance of sunlight is not an easy event to deal with, even for those of us who know why it happens. It is uncanny, yet spectacular. The Sun is our source of energy. It is what regulates life, what clears the horizon of clouds. Our connection to light is immense; we are wired to live in light, not in darkness. How must it have been for ancient peoples to plunge into daylight darkness?

A matter of distance

There are dozens of myths, stories, and symbols (such as the esoteric black sun) to remind us of eclipses, but I am by no means an expert on the subject, although I enjoy reading these legends. Scientifically speaking, an eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. Of course, the Moon and Sun are actually very different sizes, but this difference disappears (apparently) because of their distance. The Sun is about 400 times larger in diameter than the Moon, but it is also about 400 times farther from the Earth than the Moon. This is why they appear to be about the same size during an eclipse.

May 29, 1919

There are many historically documented solar eclipses (from the earliest times). But among the most recent, the one on May 29, 1919, had been certainly special. It lasted nearly seven minutes-seven minutes that marked an extraordinary turning point in the history of physics. Through the dimming, astronomer Arthur Eddington and his team noticed that light from distant stars was deflected by the sun’s gravitational field. This observation helped to prove Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity that revolutionized the way we perceive space and time.

The 1919 eclipse. Credit: Arthur Eddington. 

The upcoming solar eclipse (April 8, 2024/sweeping across the United States from Texas to Maine) will occur with the Sun at the peak of its magnetic activity, so the solar corona will be very visible. I can’t wait! Happy eclipse, guys!

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Useful sites to follow the April 8 eclipse

2024 Total Eclipse: Where & When

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE IN AMERICA APRIL 8, 2024

Total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 over Mexico, the USA, and Canada