I remember learning this fact in an astronomy class and that we’re not aware of this happening anywhere else in our solar system.
Here's a nice pic of Phobos and Deimos as seen from the mast-camera of Curiosity, compared with Luna.
I remember reading an Asimov piece many years ago where he was (typically) spinning out a kind of what-if about how the large size of the moon, and the consequent majorly-obvious eclipses, influenced the importance of ancient astronomy. Not to mention other effects like tides and moonlight.
And here's the backstory about verifying relativity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_May_29,_1919
I think part of the perception that a total eclipse "perfectly" blocks the sun is that the corona has a fuzzy edge but the surface does not, so when the moon is actually larger than the sun in the sky you still see the same eerie coronal glow. In particular there's little perceptible difference between blocking 100% of the sun and blocking 105% of the sun, compared to 100% versus 95%.
Just a small distraction that keeps us “united” for a moment in time.
The image of the corona around the sun is seared into my memory now, and I want to see it again - I see why some people become "eclipse-chasers", and travel the world to experience this again.
It got cold & pitch dark in the middle of a summer day.
Chickens went to sleep.
I saw the 2017 eclipse and found it was way better than I expected.
People really got emotional about it though. People were screaming, crying. Almost a mass hysteria event.
Even better, the website will animate the last 24 or so images (captured every 10 minutes). It's awesome! [1]
[1] https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/fulldisk_band.php?sat=...
As luck would have it, within minutes after totality completed, it was blue sky with pretty much no clouds. I swear the gawds hate me or someone in my town!
Is there a way to "permalink" to these four hours in the future?
I'm thankful for the clouds clearing enough for the experience, but I really felt that the totally clear skies within minutes of totality ending was really just a slap in the face from the universe!
You mean gravity waves [1], which are not the same thing as gravitational waves [2].
moon shadow - everyone loses their minds
I've seen partial eclipses in years past and they were neat. But this was staggering. Like the sun disappeared and was replaced with a black hole.
