Astronomical phenomenon, historical legend of total lunar eclipse

During the total lunar eclipse, only a part of sunlight refracted through the earth's atmosphere and shone on the moon, showing a "red moon". This is a very rare situation. The "red moon" is also called the "blood moon". So what are the historical legends of the astronomical phenomenon of total lunar eclipse? Let's take a look at the constellation knowledge together.

Historical legends

Columbus and the Legend of Eclipse

/kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, Columbus sailed to Jamaica, South America, and clashed with the local aborigines. Columbus and his sailors were trapped in a corner, without food and water. The situation is very critical. Columbus, who knew something about astronomy, knew that there would be a total lunar eclipse that night, so he shouted to people at the moment of the total lunar eclipse: "If you don't bring food, there will be no moonlight!" " In the evening, Columbus's words came true, and there was no moonlight. When the natives saw this scene, they were afraid, so they quickly made peace with Columbus. The solar eclipse in Mesopotamia in 2283 BC was the earliest in the world, followed by that in China in 1 136 BC. Eclipses have been promoting the development of human understanding. As early as 188 1 years ago, Zhang Heng, an astronomer in Han Dynasty in China, made clear the principle of lunar eclipse.

Aristotle and solar eclipse

In the 4th century BC, Aristotle saw that the shadow of the earth was round from the solar eclipse, but inferred that the earth was spherical. Alistair, an ancient Greek astronomer in the 3rd century BC, and Hipparchus in the 2nd century BC both proposed to measure the relative size of the Sun-Earth-Moon system through solar eclipse. Iba Valley also proposed to observe the lunar eclipse in two distant places at the same time to measure the geographical longitude. In the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy used the ancient lunar eclipse records to study the movement of the moon, and this method has continued to this day. Before the appearance of rockets and artificial earth satellites, scientists have been exploring the atmospheric structure of the earth by observing eclipses. The earliest lunar eclipse was recorded in Mesopotamia in 2283.

Tian Gou Shi yue

In ancient China and Africa, people thought that the lunar eclipse was "Tengu swallowing the moon", and it was necessary to beat gongs and drums to drive Tengu away. In the Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng had discovered some principles of lunar eclipse. He thinks that the earth walks in front of the moon and blocks the sunlight. "Day in a hurry, light often source, hidden in the ground. It is called darkness, the stars are faint, and the moonlight is eclipsed. " Aristotle in the 4th century inferred that the earth was round according to the circle of the earth's shadow seen during the solar eclipse. Aristak, an ancient Greek astronomer in the 3rd century, and Alistair in the 2nd century both proposed to measure the size of the sun, the earth and the moon by solar eclipse. Legend has it that there was a son named Mulian. Born a good Buddha, a kind person. She is very filial to her mother, but Mulian's mother, as a queen, is irritable and likes and dislikes. On one occasion, Manglietia's mother suddenly had a whim and came up with a bad idea: monks read Buddha and become vegetarians. We should play tricks on them and eat dog meat. She ordered 360 dog meat steamed buns, saying they were vegetarian steamed buns, and they were going to the temple to give them during the total lunar eclipse.

Mulian knew about it, advised his mother not to listen, and sent someone to inform the abbot of the temple. The abbot prepared 360 vegetarian steamed buns. Hidden in every monk's cassock sleeve. Mulian's mother came to give alms and gave each monk a dog meat steamed bread. Before the meal, the monk recited the Buddha and replaced the dog meat steamed bread in his sleeve with vegetarian steamed bread before eating. When Manglietia saw that all the monks had eaten her steamed bread, she clapped her hands and said with a smile, "Monks eat meat today! Monks eat dog meat steamed buns! " The abbot folded his hands and repeated, "Amitabha, sin, sin!" " "Afterwards, 360 dog meat steamed buns were buried in the soil behind the temple. The jade emperor in the sky was very angry when he learned about it.

It will put Manglietia's mother in 18 hell and turn her into a vicious dog, which will never be able to survive. Manglietia was a dutiful son and learned that her mother had gone to hell. And finally became a treasure bodhisattva. In order to save his mother, he used Zhang Xi to open the door of hell. Manglietia's mother and all the ghosts escaped from hell and were reincarnated to make trouble on earth. The Jade Emperor was furious and made Manglietia descend to earth to devote herself to Huang Chao. Later, "Huang Chao killed eight million people", and the legend came to collect these ghosts who escaped from hell. Manglietia's mother turned into a vicious dog. After escaping from hell, she hated the jade emperor and went to heaven to get even with him. She couldn't find the jade emperor in the sky, so she chased the sun and the moon, trying to swallow them and turn heaven and earth into a dark world.

This evil dog chases and chases day and night! She chased the moon and swallowed it; Catch up with the sun and swallow it in one gulp. The evil dog that Mulian's mother turned into was most afraid of gongs and firecrackers, and the sun and moon swallowed by the evil dog would spit it out again. After the sun and the moon were rescued, the sun, the moon and Hui Qi started running again. Bad dogs don't want to catch up again, so there are eclipses in the sky again and again. Folks call it "Tengu eats the sun" and "Tengu eats the moon". Up to now, during solar and lunar eclipses, many people in cities and rural areas still have the custom of beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers to drive away Tengu.