The solar eclipse of 1 May 1185 was a total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

visible in

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Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

, and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. The eclipse is number 30 in the Solar Saros 115 series. The eclipse shadow on the Earth's surface was at its greatest at 13:18:02

Universal Time Universal Time (UT or UT1) is a time standard based on Earth's rotation. While originally it was mean solar time at 0° longitude, precise measurements of the Sun are difficult. Therefore, UT1 is computed from a measure of the Earth's angle with ...

. The sun was in

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus * ''Bos taurus ...

at this time.

Eclipse path

The shadow axis passed between the Earth's center and the north pole. The minimum distance from the center of the Earth to the Moon's shadow cone axis was 3,357 kilometers. The average length of the Moon's shadow was 373,320 kilometers. The distance from the Earth to the Moon on 1 May 1185 was 347,727 kilometers. The apparent diameter of the Moon was 1.0736 times that of the sun. The shadow had a maximum width of 280 kilometers. It began on the west coast of Central America and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a northeasterly direction. The shadow passed through present-day

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

and

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. The maximum duration of the eclipse occurred in the middle of the North Atlantic at coordinates 46°N, 37.2°W. The maximum duration of totality was 5 minutes and 10 seconds. The eclipse magnitude is 1.0736. The eclipse was preceded two weeks earlier by a partial lunar eclipse on April 16. A partial eclipse came ashore in Scotland, crossed the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, and entered Norway. According to astronomer Sheridan Williams, there was probably a drop in temperature at the time of the eclipse, around 2 pm in Scotland. He says that it was Scotland's fifth longest total eclipse at 4 minutes and 40 seconds. Williams also notes that some older observers in Scotland may have also witnessed the previous eclipse, 52 years earlier. After passing through present-day Sweden, the eclipse touched a part of Finland and covered the northern part of the Baltic Sea at the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

. The eclipse then entered Russia. The eclipse's shadow touched part of what would be St. Petersburg, as well as

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

and Rostov. As the shadow journeyed in a southeasterly direction, it passed through the modern sites of Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ufa, and Magnitogorsk. The eclipse shadow started diminishing when it entered present-day

and extinguished completely about 30 miles before reaching Astana.

In literature

Study of eclipse occurrences can create a precise timetable for historical events that are elusive and could not otherwise be accurately dated. The eclipse was mentioned in the Kievan Rus' epic poem '' Lay of the Host of Igor''. It was seen by Prince Igor Svyatoslavich and his army whilst on their campaign against the Polovtsians, and was interpreted as a message from God prophesying trouble, hence frightening Igor's men who thought it a bad omen. According to the ''Lay'', after the eclipse Igor gave a long speech to his

retinue A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers. Etymology The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', it ...

to allay their fears before proceeding on his campaign. The eclipse is mentioned in the 14th-century Laurentian Chronicle with the first detailed description of solar prominences. They were described as flame-like tongues of live embers:

On the first day of the month of May, on the day of the Saint Prophet Jeremiah, on Wednesday, during the evening service, there was a sign in the Sun. It became very dark, even the stars could be seen; it seemed to men as if everything were green, and the Sun became like a crescent of the Moon, from the horns of which a glow similar to that of red-hot charcoals was emanating. It was terrible to see this sign of the Lord. Original text cited at

The Melrose Chronicle claims that "stars appeared" at Melrose in Scotland during the eclipse of 1185, but this is doubted by the writer Thomas Cooper who points out that scientific calculations indicate that the eclipse was not total at Melrose. The Brut y Tywysogion, the Welsh Chronicle of the Princes, says of the solar eclipse of 1 May 1185 ''Yn y ulwyddyn honno dyw Calan Mei y sumudawd yr heul y lliw; ac y dywat rei uot anei diffyc'', which translates as: ''In that year on the day of the Calends of May the Sun changed its colour; and some said that it was under an eclipse.'' Bryn Jones believes there was a total solar eclipse across the Scottish Highlands, the Western Isles and

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

.. The translation is cited there from

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * *
The total solar eclipse of 1 May 1185
(Russian)
NASA interactive map of total solar eclipse of 1 May 1185

External links

Solar eclipse newsletter
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NASA Besselian Elements – Total Solar Eclipse of 1185 May 01
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