The shadow axis passed 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 was 3,357 kilometers.[2] The average length of the Moon's shadow was 373,320 kilometers. The distance from the Earth to the Moon on 1 May 1185 was 347,727 kilometers.[2] The apparent diameter of the Moon was 1.0736 times that of the Sun.[2] The shadow had a maximum width of 280 kilometers.[3] 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
Haiti. The maximum duration of the eclipse occurred in the middle of the North Atlantic at coordinates 46°N, 37.2°W.[1]
The maximum duration of totality was 5 minutes and 10 seconds.[4] The eclipse magnitude is 1.0736.[1] The eclipse was preceded two weeks earlier by a partial lunar eclipse on April 16.[1]
A partial eclipse came ashore in Scotland, crossed the
North Sea, and entered Norway. According to astronomer Sheridan Williams, there was probably a drop in temperature at the time of the eclipse, around 2 pm in Scotland.[5] He says that it was Scotland's fifth longest total eclipse at 4 minutes and 40 seconds.[5] Williams also notes that some older observers in Scotland may have also witnessed the previous eclipse, 52 years earlier.[5]
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 shadow journeyed in a southeasterly direction, it passed through the modern sites of
Nizhny Novgorod,
Kazan,
Ufa, and
Magnitogorsk. The eclipse shadow started diminishing when it entered present-day
Kazakhstan and extinguished completely about 30 miles before reaching
Astana.[6][7][8][9]
In literature
The sun dimming on Igor's campaign, as illustrated by
Ivan Blinov (1912) in the first artistic representation of the epic.[10]
Study of eclipse occurrences can create a precise timetable for historical events that are elusive and could not otherwise be accurately dated.[A]
The eclipse was mentioned in the
Kievan Rus' epic poem Lay of the Host of Igor.[13] It was seen by Prince
Igor Svyatoslavich and his army whilst on their campaign against the
Polovtsians,[14] and was interpreted as a message from God prophesying trouble,[15] hence frightening Igor's men who thought it a bad omen.[16][17] According to the Lay, after the eclipse Igor gave a long speech to his
retinue to allay their fears before proceeding on his campaign.[18]
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.[23][24]
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.[25]
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.[26][27]
References
Notes
^"Total eclipses of the Sun are undoubtedly one of the most spectacular of natural events and leave a lasting impression on their viewers. Perhaps then it is not too surprising that these magnificent events are often recorded in the surviving writings of ancient civilizations."[11][12]
^Svyatskiy D.O. "Astronomical Phenomena in Russian chronicles with scientific and critical perspective" in Svyatskiy D.O. Астрономия Древней Руси (Astronomy in Ancient Russia). Moscow: Panorama, 2007, pp. 45–49 (in Russian).
^Sanderson & Harrington 2006, p. 41: "1185 - Russian Chronicle of Novgorod describes a solar prominence seen during a total solar eclipse as appearing like 'live embers.' A prominence is a flamelike cloud of glowing gas extending upward from the Sun's surface that is often visible during a total eclipse."
^Jones, Bryn (2008).
"The History of Astronomy in Wales". References to eclipses in ancient manuscripts. Bryn Jones. Archived from
the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2015.. The translation is cited there from Jones, Thomas (1955). Brut y Tywysogyon, or, the Chronicle of the Princes: Red Book of Hergest version. Cardiff:
University of Wales Press.