Title: ECLIPSED

Speaker: Arthur Kramer (NYCCT)

Date/Time/Location: December 14, 2017, 12:50-2:00pm, N720

Abstract:

In light of the recent sensational Solar eclipse across the US, this talk will examine the phenomenon of Solar and Lunar eclipses and the speaker’s experience observing the one in August 2017. We will look at some of the history and the the early scientific understanding of the motions of the Earth, Sun and Moon including the causes and the different types of eclipses. Some of the mathematics associated with eclipses will be presented and several of the past spectacular eclipses will be discussed including the famous one in 1919 that proved Einstein’s gravitational theory of the bending of light. The talk will conclude with information on future eclipses and how to best plan to see them.