While solar eclipses were considered ominous throughout history, multiple cultures explained the celestial event as the result of mythical creatures nearly consuming the sun.

Learn how the Egyptians, Romans, and other ancient civilizations worshipped the sun

In Egypt, the pharaoh was seen as the living embodiment of the son of Ra, the sun god. In Mesopotamia, the sun god Shamash was a divine judge whose light could reveal the truth. Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of sun and war, was thought to require sacrifices to prevent the universe's destruction.

By identifying patterns in the periodic movements of the sun, moon, and Earth, ancient civilizations realized that identical eclipses repeat about once every 6,585 days, known as the saros cycle.

Solar eclipses are a cosmic coincidence because the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun but about 400 times closer to Earth, allowing it to block sunlight for those on Earth within its shadow.

While the sun, moon, and stars rise and set from east to west due to Earth's rotation, the moon's eastward revolution around the Earth causes its shadow to move from west to east during a solar eclipse.

Research shows that during total solar eclipses, some animals change their behavior to match their nighttime activities.

Because the half of Earth that faces the sun is larger than the area of the shadow cast by the moon during a solar eclipse, observers may experience a total, annular, or partial eclipse.

Although the moon passes between the sun and Earth each month, its orbit is tilted by five degrees, preventing Earth from experiencing a solar eclipse each month.

Ancient Greek told to kick rocks after claiming moon wasn't a deity

About 2,500 years ago, ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras theorized that the moon probably wasn't a goddess. This article explains how this belief led to his exile. Anaxagoras also argued the sun was just a burning rock, writing that it was the sun that illuminated the moon. According to this resource, this theory enabled Anaxagoras to accurately explain eclipses and lunar cycles.

Over thousands of years, the frequency of solar eclipses is greatest around the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and lowest near the equator.

Every eclipse is preceded or followed by another eclipse, separated by about two weeks and alternating between solar and lunar types.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the first person to successfully predict a solar eclipse was the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus in 585 BCE, with the resulting celestial event ending a half-decade-long war.

Because the retina lacks pain receptors, during a solar eclipse, those watching without protective eyewear may suffer from permanent damage without realizing it.

Egypt's pantheon is the result of a thousand years of myths

Their pantheon consisted of nearly 2,000 divine beings which evolved over time, led by the broadly worshipped sun god Ra. Many of the myths surrounding each god changed dramatically or even intertwined with others as cult followings grew popular or shifted from city to city.

Blood moons only occur during total lunar eclipses, when the Earth blocks the sun, but its atmosphere lets redder parts of sunlight through to reflect off the lunar surface.

Auroral myths include Valkyries, firefoxes, and torchlight from giants fishing at night

In Norse mythology, the light displays were considered reflections from the Valkyries' armor as the female warriors brought the souls of heroes to Valhalla. In Finland, firefoxes were thought to move so fast that they created sparks in the sky as their tails brushed against mountains.

For the medievals, the moon was a versatile religious symbol

Within the distinct traditions of Christianity and Islam, the moon became a central metaphor and sign for religious teaching. For Christians, its light was used to explain Jesus' humanity with the light of the sun (divinity). For Muslims, the moon represented a cosmic longing for god.

The ancient Greeks and Romans viewed comets and meteors as divine omens

Both considered the appearance of a comet or its fragments as a precursor to significant events, such as the birth of a notable figure or the death of a ruler. One observed in 44 BCE was believed to be a sign of the deification of Julius Caesar after his assassination.

Some maps may incorrectly identify the boundaries of a solar eclipse's totality because they assume the Earth is a smooth surface.

View photographs of solar eclipses on Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn caused by the moons of these planets blocking sunlight.

Just before and just after a total solar eclipse, sunlight can pass through uneven terrain on the lunar surface, producing disconnected bits of light around the moon called Baily's beads.

Eclipse glasses protect the eyes from overexposure to the sun's ultraviolet, blue, and infrared light, as a person's instinct to look away from the sun is diminished when it's partly blocked.

The sun will become a red giant after it exhausts the hydrogen fuel in its core, causing gravity to collapse the core and heat it enough for the surrounding hydrogen shell to ignite, releasing enough energy to cause the star to swell.

The faint triangle of light occasionally seen above the horizon, known as zodiacal light, is due to sunlight reflecting off ice and dust scattered throughout the inner solar system.

The scientific name for northern lights came from two Greco-Roman gods

Although cave paintings may have depicted them millennia earlier, one of the oldest known references to auroras is a Babylonian cuneiform tablet from about 600 BCE. In 1619, Galileo Galilei named the phenomenon in the northern hemisphere "aurora borealis" after the Roman goddess of dawn—Aurora—and the Greek god of the north wind—Boreas.

Ghost stories across cultures often trace back to traumatic events

From a bat-like demon in Tanzania to a malevolent woman figure hovering above your sleeping body, the four disturbing tales outlined in this NPR article offer a glimpse into how happenings from WWII or the Aztec Empire haunt people’s memories.

With the exception of Earth, the planets are named after Roman gods and goddesses

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are named after the messenger of the gods, the goddess of love, the god of war, the king of gods, the god of agriculture, the god of the sky, and the god of the sea, respectively. "Earth" comes from Old English and Germanic words meaning "ground."

If the sun disappeared, we would not know about it for 8 minutes and 20 seconds, at which point the Earth would suddenly move in a straight line on its way out of the solar system.

A solar eclipse viewer can be made from everyday objects, such as a cereal box, aluminum foil, tape, and paper, to safely view the cosmic event.

The first scientifically useful photograph of a total solar eclipse was taken in Königsberg, Prussia, on July 28, 1851, using a silver-coated copper plate with a light-sensitive chemical layer.

Electric grids that rely on solar power must compensate for reduced electricity generation during solar eclipses.

Understanding why charged particles from the sun protect Earth from more dangerous particles

The solar wind engulfs the solar system in a protective bubble called the heliosphere, which was first theorized in the late 1950s based on studies of cosmic rays—high-energy particles traveling through space at near light speed. The heliosphere shields the solar system from much of this ionizing radiation originating elsewhere in the Milky Way.

Inti, the Sun God of the Inca

The Incas were polytheistic, worshiping many gods, but Inti was the most powerful one in the pantheon. He was the god of the sun and also ruled over agriculture, fertility, and war. Inti was mainly a benevolent deity, though the Inca believed that solar eclipses meant Inti wasn’t pleased. To appease him, the Inca gave sacrificial offerings including food, white llamas, and even human beings.

Stonehenge has produced wild origin stories

Built before the wheel was invented, Stonehenge inspired increasingly fantastical explanations—from a 12th-century tale of Merlin and Nephilim giants to 1960s claims that aliens built it alongside the pyramids.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

How lunisolar calendars work

Despite being called Lunar New Year, the Chinese calendar that the holiday is based on is actually lunisolar, or based on both the sun and the moon. Many religious holidays—including Easter, Ramadan, Chinese New Year, and Passover—do not have fixed dates according to the now-ubiquitous Gregorian calendar.

Tracking the accuracy of past and future predictions of the apocalypyse

Religious figures, scientists, technologists and others have long heralded the ending of the world in what in some traditions is called the apocalypse. This site tracks those failed predictions in the past and charts those coming up in the future.