HIGH POINT, N.C. — On April 8, 2024, the sun will be eaten.
At least, that's what ancient Chinese writings believed back around 1200 B.C.E.
"So, during an eclipse, I'll say the moon has taken a bite out of the sun. Do I mean it literally? No, I mean it metaphorically. But, you know, ancient peoples didn't have our scientific understanding, so maybe they thought that and were worried that, ‘is the sun going to reappear or not?'" Said High Point University's Jeff Regester.
Register has been a Physics and Astronomy professor for decades, and for this year, he's undoubtedly been waiting patiently for this upcoming solar eclipse.
“Ancient peoples would have seen this more as gods interacting or portents of evil perhaps, and so we have from ancient Babylonia and ancient China records of eclipses, which is surprising in that those records have actually been useful scientifically," stated Regester.
While eclipses have existed for millions of years, the first possible recording wasn’t until roughly 3340 B.C.E. via rock carvings in Ireland. Later, ancient China and Babylonia gave us the earliest confirmed sightings centuries later, which led to a startling discovery.
“A\s the earth spins on its axis and eclipses happen, you know, eclipses happen at certain places on the earth, and well, it turns out that the earth's spin is actually slowing down," Said Regester.
Yep, we’re slowing down.
"Nine hundred million years ago, the day the time for Earth to spin once was 19 hours long. And over the last 900 million years, the Earth's spin has slowed so that it's now what we call 24 hours," Regester stated.
But how does this historical recording of a solar eclipse tell us that?
“in one particular record in Mesopotamia, in Babylonia, that based on the records where they saw an eclipse, if the Earth had been spinning at a constant rate from then to now, the eclipse would have happened at a different longitude," Regester said.
This is from the phenomenon that causes tides at the beach, only on a much larger scale.
“And as the Earth spins, that essentially creates friction. So, it's kind of like you had a globe, and it was spinning, and why does it slow down? Because there's friction with that axis, okay? But in this case, it's the friction of the solid body of the Earth with the Earth's oceans and the tides," Regester said.
There is no need to extend your work hours just yet. The change is so small that we won’t notice any significant change in our lifetime.
“We go about our day-to-day lives, and we're so wrapped up in, oh, I've got to get this done, our to-do lists at work, school, whatever it is, and so this is a time when the universe is saying, ‘Hey, pay attention to me.’
Eclipses may not be instances where the sun has been eaten, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less awe-inspiring.
On Monday, April 8, from Noon- 6 p.m., WFMY News 2 is hosting Total Eclipse of the Park 2024 at Triad Park. Come join us as we view the eclipse together.