Once in a lifetime

Today was when the longest solar eclipse occurred in Asia and many viewers awed with excitement. The eclipse lasted for about six minutes and 39 seconds, which is near the theoretical maximum duration for a solar eclipse of seven minutes and 31 seconds. A solar eclipse is formed on a new moon day, when Sun, Moon and Earth come in a straight line. The eclipse occurs on the earth where shadow of moon falls on the earth. The next solar eclipse this long will occur only in the year 2132.


After an hour after sunrise, the sun was covered by the moon and it became dark. Many people in India and China were crowding to see the event with special sunglasses while many believe that watching solar or lunar eclipse is inauspicious and hence stayed inside to avoid seeing the occurrence. When I was a kid, I have seen a solar eclipse from my house and would watch it by taking a piece of bottle/glass and blackening with soot of smoke instead of this day’s fancy glasses. I did not think of it as inauspicious or scary but rather got more interested in the phenomena. I started reading more about space. No, I was not born with an interest in space science nor did I move my leg in circles looking at a ceiling fan, when being held by my grand parents or anybody for that matter. I was a normal kid, just like any one else.


This event is eerie in a way because of how it affected a lot of the animals in the areas where the eclipse was total. In China's Hangzhou City zoo, animals that were out feeding at 9.30am, started going inside their dorms without hesitation after dropping whatever they were eating. In a similar manner, animals that are used to being fed after sundown came out as soon as it became dark. This is a sign of more like a Pavlovian response (as in Pavlov's dog) rather than being time or hunger based. Thanks to my friend who pointed this out. What would have been the effect on humans because of sudden darkness for less than seven minutes? I think it is nothing. What would seven minutes of darkness in the morning do to humans? Of course, roads and work space have had to be lit to work and move around as usual for that day. In terms of time sense, nothing should be affected for humans. At least that is my opinion. You would never know if some humans would just drop dead sleep or start getting hungry when it became dark. I think we are a little better than the four legged ones in this regard.