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How Far In Advance Can One Predict Solar Eclipses?

-- Jonathan | November 8, 2024

Visual of different stages of an eclipse

Question:

When was it first discovered and reported that there would be two solar eclipses in 2017 and 2024?

-- Jonathan

Answer:

There is a really nice and detailed answer to this question posted on the Ask Dr. Universe blog. Even though humans have observed and recorded solar eclipses since the ancient Mayan, Babylonian and Chinese civilizations, it was not until the astronomer Edmond Halley made accurate mathematical predictions of solar eclipses in 1715. Today astronomers use computers to predict when eclipses will occur, which allows them to predict eclipses for the next thousand years. I think that it is safe to say that astronomers predicted that 2017 and 2024 would have two eclipses, and when they would occur, many decades ago.

-- Jeff Mangum

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