The last time the world witnessed
a total solar eclipse
was in 2017,
and its presence delighted
enthusiastic sky watchers.
"This is absolutely insane."
But what if, instead of a rare phenomena,
a total solar eclipse
became an everyday thing?
A dragon devouring the Sun,
a giant puma demon,
a pair of sky wolves.
Throughout history and across cultures,
an eclipse has been interpreted
as a perplexing or fearful event.
Even the 2017 total eclipse raised claims of
impending apocalypse
by evangelist groups in the United States.
But what if the next eclipse didn't end?
In this scenario,
we’re talking about a total solar eclipse,
which only happens
under very specific circumstances.
First, it has to be a new Moon phase.
Second, the Moon has to be
at its closest position to Earth,
also called perigee.
And third, the Moon has to be
directly in front of the Sun.
"It's like a sunset all the way around me."
This rare planetary alignment
would suddenly become a normal occurrence.
But don’t worry,
you wouldn't live in the Moon’s shadow
all the time.
There are two parts of the Moon’s shadow.
The umbra is the dark center,
and the penumbra is the outside edge,
where only part of the Sun
is blocked by the Moon.
which is about the size
of the state of West Virginia in the U.S.
Because of the Earth’s axis,
this large shadow would sweep across
different parts of the globe
during different seasons.
The rest of the planet would be in the penumbra.
You’d still get sunlight,
just not as much as you used to,
and life would certainly be a little dimmer.
Existence on Earth is closely tied to the
transition of day to night.
A total solar eclipse would disrupt this pattern
and wreak havoc on other natural cycles.
Under the umbra,
the temperature would drop about 5°C (41°F).
Even minimal fluctuations have significant impact.
Temperature changes and lack of sunshine
are not great for agriculture,
so we would have to get creative with growing
our crops in this new cycle of light and dark.
We would also see an increase in
seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.
This subtype of depression occurs during
long winter months in high latitudes with lack of sunshine.
You’d probably feel some of the same hopelessness and
loss of energy under the Moon’s shadow.
Though we’d have to come up with a new diagnosis,
maybe eclipse affective disorder.
In a typical total solar eclipse,
the umbra moves across the globe
from west to east,
lasting only about 7.5 minutes.
This is because the Moon rotates around the Earth,
making a static eclipse impossible.
So the only way we could see a
permanent solar eclipse is
if the Moon stopped rotating around the Earth.
Without its own trajectory,
the Moon wouldn’t be able to resist
the gravitational pull from Earth,
and would eventually destroy us.
If that were the case,
then a total eclipse
really would be a doomsday warning.
Observing a total solar eclipse
is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Let’s hope it stays the marvel it is.
Life on Earth relies on the predictable pattern
of the Sun and Moon,
and we would be in big trouble if our orderly cosmos changed.
If planet Earth screeched to a halt
and stopped orbiting around the Sun,
what then?
Well, that’s a story for another WHAT IF.