There are some things in life that you know are going to happen but still manage to make you stop and stare. A solar eclipse is one of them.
On Wednesday, millions of people across Europe looked upwards as the Moon slipped between the Earth and the Sun. In parts of Spain and Iceland, they were treated to the full spectacle: daylight disappeared, temperatures dropped, the sky darkened and, for a couple of extraordinary minutes, the Sun itself vanished behind the Moon.
Here in Bahrain, unfortunately, we were excluded from the party. While much of Europe got at least a partial eclipse, Bahrain was outside the useful viewing area.
It seems particularly unfair. We have sunshine practically guaranteed for most of the year, and when something happens to the Sun, we don’t even get to see it.
A total solar eclipse is one of those events that reminds us just how extraordinary our little corner of the universe actually is. The Moon is roughly 400 times smaller than the Sun, but it is also roughly 400 times closer to us. The result is an astonishing coincidence of perspective: from the Earth, the two objects appear almost exactly the same size in the sky.
It is this cosmic trick that allows the Moon to completely cover the Sun.
Think about that for a moment. We are standing on a small planet, orbiting an ordinary star, accompanied by a comparatively tiny lump of rock that happens to be positioned at exactly the right distance to occasionally blot out our star.
And we get very excited about it.
Quite rightly, too.
People travelled hundreds and even thousands of kilometres to stand in the path of totality. Hotels filled, flights were booked and astronomers, photographers and ordinary members of the public all gathered with their special eclipse glasses. Northern Spain was particularly popular because the path of totality crossed the country, giving spectators the opportunity to experience something that continental Europe had not seen on this scale for decades.
And then, after all the anticipation, it was over.
That is perhaps the most fascinating thing about an eclipse. We spend weeks talking about something that lasts only minutes. We plan holidays around it, check the weather forecast, buy special equipment and travel vast distances – and then the Moon moves on and everything returns to normal.
There is something rather humbling about that.
We like to think we are in control of our lives. We build enormous buildings, launch satellites, fly around the world and carry computers in our pockets that have more processing power than the machines that sent men to the Moon.
Yet none of that changes the fact that a lump of rock 384,000km away can put on a better show than anything we can manufacture.
Perhaps that is why eclipses fascinate us. They remind us that, despite all our technology and cleverness, we are still inhabitants of a tiny planet spinning through an enormous universe.
And perhaps we should occasionally look up.
Even if, in Bahrain, all we get is the sun.
Jackie@JBeedie.com
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