COMETS Folk Beliefs, legends and scientific explanations Comets, Popular Culture and the Birth of Modern Cosmology

By: Sara Schechner Genuth reviewed by W.M. Napier The author's goal is to trace the history of popular ideas about comets from the earliest historical times through to the early nineteenth century. As Resident Scholar at the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology at the Smithsonian Institution, and former Curator of the History of Astronomy Collection at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, she is well qualified to pursue this task. She has produced a book which is both scholarly and well written. It is full of information, with over eighty pages of notes and forty pages of bibliography. It is also a fascinating read, easily accessible to the general reader. The nature and origin of comets has been a matter for debate from classical times onwards. Aristotle and others thought they were meteorological, sublunary objects; the Pythagoreans and others regarded them as truly celestial. Comets have been seen as portents of catastrophe, or monsters, from the earliest times. This perception seems to be firmly fixed in the earliest records: the death of princes, civil disorder, war, plague and famine were all presaged by the arrival of comets. Why was this connection made, so strongly and for so long? Made it clearly was, by both common folk and scholars, and the belief was held with remarkable persistence through the ages until relatively recent times. Unfortunately the author does not fully explain this remarkable fact, which permeates the history of the subject. The history of comets as legitimisers of rule also has a remarkable longevity: for example the author points out that cometary apparition was used to validate the reign of Charles II in 1661 and Augustus in 44 BC (in fact the cometary 'divine right of kings' is of considerably greater antiquity even than this). Still, there was the opposite pull: the appearance of a comet in the sky, with its overtones of divine wrath, a presager of disorder, seems to have had an irresistible attraction for political and religious tub-thumpers. Thus 'During the English Civil War, radical sects, such as the Fifth Monarchists, who were eager to pave the way for the Second Coming, had used millennarian ideology to justify the destruction of a pernicious political order. Comets were seen as signs that the time was right, and public pursuit of the millennium had convulsive effects.' The complex interplays between popular and developing scientific beliefs about comets, and their interaction with politics and religion, are carefully traced out. The canvas is a large one, and much emphasis is given to the period of transition between predominantly superstitious views about comets, and those which we would now recognise as scientific. Surprisingly, the author finds that social rather than scientific reasons contributed to the decline of cometary divination, and that ancient folk beliefs, and popular culture, lingered on even in Newton's cosmology. The ancient pagan beliefs about cometary catastrophism were finally laid to rest in the mid-19th century, to be replaced by the 'scientific' view that comets are small, insignificant and irrelevant to the history of the Earth. Then, just when we thought that comets were harmless, along came the modern work on terrestrial catastrophism... Source: Princeton University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-691-01150-8. Pp xvi + 365, $49.50 (hbk.)

SOLAR ECLIPSE Folk Beliefs, legends and scientific explanations Solar Truths Solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon that occurs when the moon comes in between the sun and the earth, blocking light from the sun. This casts a huge shadow on the earth. During this time the sun's corona becomes clearly visible. Other planets like the Mercury and Venus too come between the sun and the earth but they are too far away to cause an impact. The moon on the other hand is 400 times closer to the earth and during the solar eclipse they look equal sized. Superstitions Solar Eclipse has been traditionally observed as an ominous sign and therefore superstitions abound in association with this natural phenomenon. Depending on the culture, it is believed that during the eclipse the sun is swallowed by demons, dragons or devilish dogs. Pregnant women have traditionally been coaxed to stay indoors and not to cut vegetables (and such like) if they wanted healthy babies without congenital anomalies Pregnant women are also prevented from sewing so that they do not have deformed children People lock themselves indoors to avoid the bad rays of the eclipsed sun Some people cleanse themselves in holy rivers during an eclipse There are many who do not cook on an eclipse day because they believe that germs abound during this time Already the Indian astrolgers are predicting doom and disaster as a consequence of the solar eclipse not only in India , but in China and the South East. They have predicted communal tensions and political assassinations. The Rational Challenge The rational and the scientifically- inclined have all along challenged the superstitions that exist and are willing to predict otherwise. They plan to further educate the general public and have already persuaded them to do away with false beliefs and treat the eclipse as a natural phenomenon. Having allayed their fears, people have been coming out in large numbers in the recent years to view the eclipse - so much so that the Scientific forum's Tamil Nadu chapter soon ran out of supply of solar filters. People are even traveling long distance to view this once- in -a- lifetime spectacle. A Delhi-based organisation, SPACE which is striving to make science and astronomy popular among young people, is taking interested folks to Varanasi (in Uttar Pradesh) and to Sasaram (near Patna) in the state of Bihar to view the solar eclipse. Boeing 737-700 has been chartered by Cox and Kings to enable people to view the eclipse from a 'sun side' seat at 41,000 feet, on a three hour flight from Delhi. To the privileged few, who have paid 1,600 dollars to drink in this

spectacle, experts will explain the goings on. There is a 90% chance of viewing the eclipse on this flight while there is only a 40% chance on the ground. Precautions 1. Watch the eclipse through specially made viewing glasses or through solar filters designed to view the sun. The pinhole projection method is the safest way. 2. Remember that the sun's rays can impair or cause permanent eye damage when viewed through the naked eye 3. Avoid watching the solar eclipse through binoculars or telescope 4. Avoid watching the eclipse using sunglasses, smoked glass, black-and-white film, colour film or negatives 5. Always watch the solar eclipse under the guidance of experts Read more: Science, Superstitions and Solar Eclipse | Medindia http://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/Science-Superstitions-and-Solar-Eclipse-55085-1.htm#ixzz2VrlCh62H

LUNAR ECLIPSE Folk Beliefs, legends and scientific explanations For thousands of years, solar and lunar eclipses have captivated humans. Different cultures around the world have sought to understand the celestial events occurring in the sky through the creation of stories and rituals. Today, scientists have a stronger grasp on the astronomical factors that cause eclipses. Solar and lunar eclipses occur because of the changing positions of the earth, sun and moon in relationship to one another. Ancient Beliefs Ancient cultures held different beliefs about the causes of solar and lunar eclipses. For many, eclipses were fearful celestial occurrences that carried portents of evil. The ancient Chinese believed that a dragon devoured the sun during a solar eclipse. Similar beliefs of monsters swallowing the sun existed among African, Asia, European and Native American peoples. In attempts to scare away the dragon or monster, ancient peoples would gather together to shout or bang on instruments to create loud, booming noises. Among the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Mayan and Arabic peoples, legends linked lunar eclipses to earthquakes, plagues and other catastrophes. Lunar Eclipses A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth passes between the sun and the moon during a full moon phase. The moon enters the earth's shadow, which consists of two parts: the umbra, or inner, dark shadow, and the penumbra, or the outer, hazy shadow. Some sunlight makes it around the earth, and our atmosphere bends, or refracts, the light. This refraction of light gives the surface of the moon a reddish or coppery tint. Total lunar eclipses occur when the moon completely enters the earth's umbra, while partial lunar eclipses refer to when the moon partially enters the earth's umbra. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the moon enters only the earth's penumbra.

Read more: What Are the Causes of Lunar and Solar Eclipses? | eHow http://www.ehow.com/info_8451999_causeslunar-solar-eclipses.html#ixzz2VrmlEWYp Read more: What Are the Causes of Lunar and Solar Eclipses? | eHow http://www.ehow.com/info_8451999_causeslunar-solar-eclipses.html#ixzz2Vrmd1tGQ Read more: What Are the Causes of Lunar and Solar Eclipses? | eHow http://www.ehow.com/info_8451999_causeslunar-solar-eclipses.html#ixzz2VrmJBtWQ

TYPHOONS Folk Beliefs, legends and scientific explanations Typhoons are the name for hurricanes in China and the Philippines, according to the Center for Educational Technologies. Typhoons always form over warm, moist tropical waters near the Equator. Typhoons are tropical cyclones formed from low pressure systems over tropical waters, according to the National Ocean Atmospheric Administration. If a tropical cyclone has winds below 74 mph, it's called a tropical storm, but with winds over 74 mph, it's termed a cyclone or hurricane. Typhoons continue to grow in size and power as long as they preside over water that is 79 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer, according to the Center for Educational Technologies. As a typhoon begins to cross land, it loses its strength and power because it can longer absorb moisture from the water. Typhoons typically form in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico or Central America. Typhoons form when moisture evaporates from the ocean and rises until it reaches large quantities of heated air in the atmosphere, according to the Center for Educational Technologies. This warm air then begins to circle clockwise and forms the eye of the typhoon. The wind around the eye of the typhoon reaches speeds between 74 and 200 mph.

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING Folk Beliefs, legends and scientific explanations SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION Lightning is the most spectacular element of a thunderstorm. In fact it is how thunderstorms got their name. Wait a minute, what does thunder have to do with lightning? Well, lightning causes thunder. Lightning is a giant spark. A single stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand at an explosive rate. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, better known as thunder. This explains why it has the name thunderstorm.Thunder and lightning occur at roughly the same time, although you see the flash of lightning before you hear the thunder. This is because light travels much faster than sound. BELIEF Thunder and lightning are to the Choctaw two great birds Thunder (Heloha), the female; Lightning (Mcdatha),the male. When they hear a great noise in the clouds, Heloha is laying an egg, just like a bird, in the cloud, which is her

nest. When a tree is shattered the result is said to have been caused by Malatha, the male, he being the stronger; but when a tree is only slightly damaged, the efleet is attributed to Heloha, the weaker. Great trouble or even war was supposed to follow the sight of a comet.

EARTHQUAKE Folk Beliefs, legends and scientific explanations Scientific Explanation A Hurricane is an area of low pressure that forms over oceans in tropical regions in either the North Atlantic Ocean or eastern North Pacific Ocean. When such a storm is developed in the western Pacific Ocean, then it is called a Typhoon. The Indian subcontinent including Bangladesh is devastated by storms developed in the Indian Ocean, which are known as Cyclones. North Americans are familiar with hurricanes. Hurricane is a powerful, whirling storm that measures 320 o 480 kilometers or 200 to 300 miles in diameter. The winds near the center of a hurricane blow at speeds of 119km or 74 miles per hour or more. North Americans have witnessed widespread death and destruction caused by many hurricanes. Hurricanes develop from Easterly Waves. These long, narrow regions of low pressure occur in ocean winds called Trade Winds. Easterly Waves will be converted into a tropical depression, with winds up to 50 km per hour or 31 miles per hour; then into a tropical storm with winds of up to 119km or 74 miles per hour; and finally, into a hurricane. The center of the hurricane is called an Eye, which is a calm area. Hurricane winds swirl around the Eye. The eye of a hurricane measures about 32km or 20 miles in diameter and has few winds or clouds. Storm clouds called Wall Clouds surround the eye. The strongest winds and heaviest rain of a hurricane occur within its wall clouds. In the United States, most hurricanes affect areas near the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes develop in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans from June to November, peaking in September, as Americans witnessed in the September of 1989 with Hurricane Hugo. Usual estimates are about six to eight hurricanes occur in the North Atlantic or North Pacific each year. However, as many- as 15 have occurred in the Atlantic in a single year. Legend People of all ancient cultures had some type of explanation for the terrifying earth movements that jarred the world every once in a while. Most attributed it to the gods. Mongolians believed the world was help up by a giant frog. Each time the animal stumbled under its heavy burden, the ground shook in an earthquake. Similarly, another Hindu myth said the Earth rested on the backs of eight enormous elephants. The Greeks believed that Poseidon, god of the sea, banged the ocean floor with his trident when angry, creating earthquakes and tsunami. An ancient Japanese legend says that earthquakes come from the writhings of a giant catfish. The gods usually control the fish by pinning it beneath a huge rock. However, the fish can get loose in October, when the gods are away.