In 1686, Edmond Halley coined the name ‘Saros’ to refer to a period of about 6,585.3 days, which could be used to predict the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses. Edmond Halley said he was inspired by a term in an 11th century Byzantine book. | Photo Credit: John Flamsteed
Q: On May 3, 1715, a total solar eclipse occurred over Europe. The English astronomer X is famous for, among other things, predicting the onset of the eclipse with an accuracy of four minutes. As a result, the event is also known as “X’s eclipse”. Name X.
A: Edmond Halley
Q: At the time the eclipse occurred, the date was April 22 and not May 3 (the year was 1715 in either case). The reason for this is that Great Britain would adopt the _________ ________ only 37 years later. Fill in the blanks.
A: Gregorian calendar
Q: Before the eclipse occurred, the English cartographer John Senex had published maps of the eclipse’s path created by both X (in Q1) and Y in March. Y is famous for pushing the Parliament of Great Britain to pass the Longitude Act in 1714. It promised rewards for anyone who devised a simple method to estimate a ship’s longitude while at sea. Name Y.
A: William Whiston
Q: While X (in Q1) had predicted the eclipse to within 4 minutes, he’d got the path of the eclipse wrong by around 30 km. X later realised he’d used the wrong lunar _________ (a table that describes the path of the moon). Fill in the blank.
A: Ephemeris
