Solar eclipse of 1 May 1185

Eclipse path

The shadow axis passes between the Earth's center and the north pole, the minimum distance from the center of the Earth to the Moon's shadow cone axis is 3,357 kilometers. The average length of the Moon's shadow is 373,320 kilometers. The distance from the Earth to the Moon on 1 May 1185 is 347,727 kilometers. The apparent diameter of the Moon in 1.0736 times more apparent than the sun. The shadow had a maximum width of 280 kilometers. It began on the west coast of Central America and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a northeasterly direction. The shadow passed through present-day Nicaragua and the island of Haiti. The maximum duration of the eclipse was in the middle of the North Atlantic at coordinates 46 ° N, 37.2 ° W longitude. The solar eclipse is a long total eclipse that lasted for 5 minutes and 10 seconds. The eclipse magnitude is 1.0736. The eclipse was preceded two weeks earlier by a partial lunar eclipse that happened on April 16.

A partial eclipse came ashore in Scotland, crossed the North Sea and entered territory of Norway. According to astronomer Sheridan Williams there was probably a drop in temperature that happened at the time of the eclipse, which was around 2 pm in Scotland. He says that it was Scotland's fifth longest total eclipse being 4 minutes and 40 seconds there. Williams also notes that it is possible that some adults in Scotland saw two total eclipses in their lifetime, since the previous one was 52 years before.

After passing through present-day Sweden the eclipse touched a part of Finland and covered the northern part of the Baltic Sea at the Gulf of Finland. The eclipse then entered Russia. The eclipse's shadow touched part of what would be St. Petersburg, as well as Novgorod and Rostov. As the eclipse journeyed in a southeasterly direction the shadow passed through locations of current Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ufa and Magnitogorsk. The eclipse shadow started diminishing when it entered in territory of present-day Kazakhstan and extinguished totally after about 30 miles before reaching location of Astana.

In literature

Study of eclipse occurrences can create a precise timetable for historical events that are elusive and could not otherwise be accurately dated.

The eclipse was mentioned in the Kievan Rus' epic poem Lay of the Host of Igor. It was seen by Prince Igor Svyatoslavich and his army whilst on their campaign against the Polovtsians, and was interpreted as a message from God prophesying trouble. Hence frightening Igor's men who thought it a bad omen. According to the Lay, after the eclipse Igor gave a long speech to his retinue to allay their fears before proceeding on his campaign.

The eclipse is mentioned in the 14th-century Laurentian Chronicle with the first detailed description of solar prominences. They were described as flame-like tongues of live embers:

On the first day of the month of May, on the day of the Saint Prophet Jeremiah, on Wednesday, during the evening service, there was a sign in the Sun. It became very dark, even the stars could be seen; it seemed to men as if everything were green, and the Sun became like a crescent of the Moon, from the horns of which a glow similar to that of red-hot charcoals was emanating. It was terrible to see this sign of the Lord.

The Melrose Chronicle claims that "stars appeared" at Melrose in Scotland during the eclipse of 1185, but this is doubted by the writer Thomas Cooper who points out that scientific calculations indicate that the eclipse was not total at Melrose.

The Brut y Tywysogion, the Welsh Chronicle of the Princes, says of the solar eclipse of 1 May 1185 Yn y ulwyddyn honno dyw Calan Mei y sumudawd yr heul y lliw; ac y dywat rei uot anei diffyc, which translates as: In that year on the day of the Calends of May the Sun changed its colour; and some said that it was under an eclipse. Bryn Jones believes there was a total solar eclipse across the Scottish Highlands, the Western Isles and Orkney.