Check Your Knowledge of a Solar Eclipse

Today the moon will align with the sun and cast a shadow on Earth. Read more here.

Women Pioneers in Technology

Credit: Geena Davis Institute

25 Archaeological Finds

Archaeology is one of the branches of science that we investigate in this course. This News Science pictorial shows 25 of the more mysterious discoveries, including the Nazca lines, the round boulders of Costa Rica, and the 2000-year Antikythera Mechanism, a clock-like machine consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears.

Check out these fascinating finds and consider what their use might have been.

Related reading: Who Laid the Foundations of Science?; African Stone, Shell and Egg Technologies; Africa is Archaeologically Rich; 4000-Year Bethlehem Tomb Found; Boat Petroglyphs in Egypt's Central Desert

Virtual View of the Solar Eclipse

One week from today, on Monday, August 21st, people in the United States will be able to view the great solar eclipse of 2017!

Watch this to see how the solar eclipse will look from anywhere in the United States. This is the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States mainland since 1979.

A total solar eclipse provides scientists the opportunity to look at the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere, which will appear as rays of white light surrounding the moon. They will gather data about the sun's corona, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and the solar wind.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking all or a portion of the Sun. A solar eclipse can be total or partial. Students can view a total eclipse of the Sun on Monday, August 21 if you go to the part of North Carolina shown on this map:

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You must be in the path shown between 2:00 and 2:30 pm in order to see the total eclipse of the Sun! This is a narrow path of only 43.6 miles in North Carolina. Hopefully, the weather will be clear.

Residents of Columbia, South Carolina will be able to view a total solar eclipse about 3:10 pm.

Please wear protective eye gear while viewing the eclipse. Wearing eye protection permits your pupils to dilate. Do not remove the eye protection until you are under cover and do not look directly at the sun after removing the glasses.

Related reading: Eclipses: Do you know the difference?; The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017; Science You Can Do During the 2017 Solar Eclipse; Studying Solar Winds During Eclipses

Dinosaur Mummy Found in Alberta

An 18-foot dinosaur with fossilized skin and intact internal organs was found in 2011 in the oil sands of northern Alberta. This dinosaur mummy was a land-dwelling nodosaur and the best-preserved specimen of its kind.

It was found by accident by miners working in the area. It was painstakingly removed to be shipped to Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum where preservationist Mark Mitchell worked more than 7,000 hours over five years to expose the fossil’s skin and bone. 

This area was once under the sea and is rich in fossils. The body of the nodosaur ended up at the bottom of an ancient sea where minerals gradually turned the body into a fossil. 

The fossil was photographed for the June 2017 issue of National Geographic. The nodosaur was
a plant-eating creature with armored skin. Two 20-inch-long spikes on its shoulders rose like horns and were used for protection against potential predators. It was 18 feet long and weighed nearly 3,000 pounds. Mitchell's reconstruction reveals that the specimen had countershading that acted as camouflage that helped it hide from huge predators.

Related reading: The Amazing Nodosaur Found by Miners

Saros Cycles and Ecplises

Solar and lunar eclipses occur in cycles known as the Saros. The sarosis a period of approximately 223 synodic months (approximately 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours), that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. A series of eclipses that are separated by one saros is called a saros series. It is believed that the Greek word saros comes from the Babylonian word "sāru" which refers to the number 3600.

Abraham's Nilotic ancestors were experts at predicting eclipses because they had been observing patterns in the heavens and keeping records of astronomical events for thousands of years.

By 4245 BC, the priests of the Upper Nile had already established a calendar based on the appearance of the star Sirius that becomes visible to the naked eye once every 1,461 years. Apparently, Nilotes had been tracking this star and connecting it to seasonal changes and agriculture for thousands of years. This is verified by the Priest Manetho who reported in his history (241 BC) that Nilotic Africans had been “star-gazing” as early as 40,000 years ago. Plato, who studied in Egypt for 13 years, claimed that the Africans had been tracking the heavens for 10,000 years.

Priest-astronomer Taitai, 18th Dynasty ~1380 B.C. 

Berlin, Neues Museum, Ägyptische Sammlungen

Temple architecture of ancient Egypt provides evidence that Egyptians observed solar eclipses over 4,500 years ago. The Zodiac of the Dendera Temple shows two disks in the constellation of Pisces. One is the moon and the other disk contains the Wadjet or Eye of Horus decorated with the markings of the eyes of a hawk, the totem of Horus. When the right eye is shown it indicates a solar eclipse. David Smith explains that "a nearly total solar eclipse occurred on a date corresponding very closely to the actual depiction of the positions of the planets in the constellations and the position of the disk containing the Wadjet eye in 51 B.C."

An ancient Egyptian story tells of Horus losing an eye in his fight with Set and it is possible that this story is based on an astronomical event. It suggests observation of a solar eclipse.

References:

Smith, David G., Total solar eclipses in Ancient Egypt – a new interpretation of some New Kingdom texts.

Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity. Brown University Press, p. 195.

World War I Artifacts Found in Palestine

The discovery of artifacts in the "Holy Land" is of interest to biblical archaeologists and biblical anthropologists. This is especially true for artifacts of great antiquity, but sometimes artifacts are found from more recent times. Artifacts from World War I were found near the ancient fortress of Antipatris built by Herod the Great in honor of his father, Antipater.

Credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority

Volunteer archaeologists found rifle cartridges, shrapnel from artillery shells and even an insignia from the British forces' unit.

The artifacts were discovered while archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and student volunteers were helping conduct excavations in advance of paving a road between two areas near Rosh Ha'Ayin. A student discovered one of the rifle cartridges, an artifact of the 1918 Battle of Megiddo fought by Turkish and British forces.

At the time of this battle the land was called Palestine, not Israel. Many Palestinians were Christians living under the Islamic rule of the Ottoman Turks.

The artifacts were uncovered in part of Migdal Tzedek National Park. In addition to the fortress of Antipatris, the region holds ruins from a Medieval crusader castle.


Related reading: World War I Battle Artifacts Unearthed in Israel; Ottoman Era Fisherman's House Unearthed in Ashkelon; The Plight of Palestinian Christians