Solar and lunar eclipses have captured both the popular and religious imagination through the millennia. Eclipse records — and myths inspired by eclipses — date back to the earliest historical epochs. These include a multitude of cuneiform tablet eclipse calculations from Mesopotamia, where total solar eclipses served not merely as awe-inspiring events, but as vital religious omens as well.
Today, eclipses are well understood from a scientific standpoint. However, folk traditions surrounding eclipses remain a part of many cultures around the world, as the following articles in the Globe and Mail (Canada) and The New York times attest. In India, for example, one belief is that pregnant women should remain indoors during an eclipse, so as to avoid any harmful effects upon the fetus.
This week’s solar eclipse will begin on July 22nd at 00:51:17 (Universal Time) off the Indian coast, and is notable due to its extremely long maximum totality period of 6 minutes and 39 seconds. That won’t happen again for nearly 150 years.
Those interested in following the eclipse path may be interested in the following sites:
http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/2009-07-22/
http://www.markstravelnotes.com/travelogues/2009/total_eclipse/eclipse_path/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z59WVrCxAR8
This upcoming conference on Astronomy and Civilisation is part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy series of events. It will be held August 10th-13th in Budapest, Hungary. The conference has as its goal the exploration of the connections that exist between the natural sciences, astronomy, and civilization — interdisciplinarity at its best.
The conference will include sessions on various topics spanning areas as diverse as physics, human cognition, art, astronomy, and religion. For those who wish to submit a paper for consideration, the call is open until May 30th, 2009.
More information may be found here.
[Edited to add that the early registration deadline, including the call for abstracts, has been changed to June 15, 2009, and the deadline for registration is now July 1, 2009. Thank you to Attila Grandpierre for this information.]
Nothing like a bit of relatively minor surgery to force one to take some time off. Happily, I’m just fine, and have had some time to discover — or, in some cases, to rediscover — a number of readings, about which I look forward to posting here.
In the interim, while this is decidedly closer to the popular culture pole, I thought that news of a relevant upcoming film might be of interest to many of you. Entitled Agora, it’s the story of the Pagan astronomer and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria, daughter of Theon, who lived and died according to her beliefs and ideals. The film promises to be quite the epic, with both ample exposition of fifth century Christian-Pagan relations and — I would imagine — some ancient astronomical content. Either way, it certainly seems promising.
For those who are in, or close to, Gloucestershire, England, you may be interested in a lecture on archaeoastronomy to be given at the Corinium Museum by Professor Clive Ruggles on Thursday, March 26th, from 7-8:30 p.m.
Dr. Ruggles is an Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester. Among his books are ‘Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth’ and ‘Skywatching in the Ancient World: New Perspectives in Cultural Astronomy’.
For more information, including contacts and the price of admission, please visit the British Science Association site, located here.
Because tempus fugit, here’s some information for those who want to make plans to attend the upcoming 17th annual conference of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC).
An IYA-related conference, the meeting will be held between October 25th and 31st, 2009 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt.
You can find a list of scheduled speakers here, and the registration section and other important items are listed in the menu to the left. For more information about the SEAC, please visit their homepage.
Astrophysics professor and Hubble Fellow Adam Frank has recently published a book that promises to transcend the standard science vs. religion dialogue. Entitled The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate, it seeks a rapprochement between the two camps. I, for one, look forward to reading it.
An article about the book may be found here. Here are a few more publication details, including a table of contents, on the University of California Press web site.
Lest I forget, 2009 has been designated the International Year of Astronomy by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO.
The opening ceremonies will take place in Paris, France, on the 15th and 16th of January. For more details, please visit the IYA web site.
And there’s even a trailer.
It’s with sadness that I must post about the recent passing of Professor John David North on October 31st.
Professor North was an eminent historian of astronomy, with interdisciplinary expertise spanning fields as diverse as the history of science and English literature. This year saw the release of a revised edition of his book entitled ‘Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology’, published by the University of Chicago Press. His passing is a great loss, and he will be missed.
