Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation

A scientist who has studied eclipses for many years tells their story and explains their importance today.

List of contents

1. Variations in the length of the day: a historical perspective; 2. Tidal friction and the ephemerides of the Sun and Moon; 3. Pre-telescopic eclipse observations and their analysis; 4. Babylonian and Assyrian records of eclipses; 5. Investigation of Babylonian observations of solar eclipses; 6. Timed Babylonian lunar eclipses; 7. Untimed Babylonian observations of lunar eclipses: horizon phenomena; 8. Chinese and other East Asian observations of large solar eclipses; 9. Other East Asian observations of solar and lunar eclipses; 10. Records of eclipses in ancient European history; 11. Eclipse records from medieval Europe; 12. Solar and lunar eclipses recorded in medieval Arabic chronicles; 13. Observations of solar and lunar eclipses made by medieval Arab astronomers; 14. Determination of changes in the length of the day and geophysical interpretation; Appendix A; Appendix B; References.

Summary

Eclipses of the Sun and Moon have attracted attention since the dawn of history. Long ago, chroniclers from Europe, Babylonia, China and the Arab lands penned graphic descriptions of them. Today, not only are these observations of historical interest; they have much to tell us about changes in the length of the day in the past due to tides and other causes.

Product details

• Authors: F. Richard Stephenson
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.06.1997
• EAN: 9780521461948
• ISBN: 978-0-521-46194-8
• Dimensions: 179 mm x 255 mm x 32 mm
• Weight: 1200 g
• Illustrations: 111 b/w illus. 62 tables, Zeichnungen, nicht spezifiziert, Raster, nicht spezifiziert, Tabellen, nicht spezifiziert
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > Astronomy; SCIENCE / Physics / General, Astronomy, space & time, Astronomy, space and time