Observations of solar eclipses in russia: between the chronicles and the first scientific expeditions (18ʰᵗ – 19ʰᵗ Centuries)
- Authors: Maslikov S.Y.1
-
Affiliations:
- Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Managemen
- Issue: Vol 45, No 1 (2024)
- Pages: 79-97
- Section: Historical Reviews
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/0205-9606/article/view/257161
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0205960624010047
- ID: 257161
Open Access
Access granted
Abstract
A solar eclipse is a rare and spectacular celestial event that has a powerful emotional impact on people and is often reflected in their writings and communications. The reports of eclipse observations are contained in the 10th–17ʰᵗ century Russian chronicles. Modern observation reports, starting wiʰᵗ the 1887 eclipse, have also been well studied. In the intermediate period, starting from 1706, however, only three eclipses (1748, 1842 and 1851) have been described in publicly available sources despite the fact that 30 total and annular eclipses passed through Russia during this period. Using a computer program, the regions and time intervals were identified to search for the mentions of such eclipses. Possible sources include memoirs, reports and other documents written by educated people – participants in all kinds of campaigns, voyages, and expeditions, not necessarily the astronomical ones. As a result of studying diverse sources, a number of valuable reports of eclipse observations were discovered. Most often, these are the observations of eyewitnesses who had accidentally happened to be in the eclipse path. The firstly discovered materials shed light on the level of astronomical knowledge among various groups of the Russian population as well as equipment available to them, and touch upon the issues of local peoples’ superstitions and prejudices. A periodization of solar eclipse observations is also proposed.
Full Text
About the authors
Sergei Yu. Maslikov
Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Managemen
Author for correspondence.
Email: s.maslikov@mail.ru
Russian Federation, str. Kamenskaya, 56, Novosibirsk, 630099
References
- Chikhachev, P. A. (1974) Puteshestvie v Vostochnyi Altai [A Journey to the Eastern Altai]. Moskva: Glavnaia redaktsiia vostoсhnoi literatury.
- Hill, G. W. (1908) Biographical Memoir of Asaph Hall. 1829–1907. Read before the National Academy of Sciences, April 23, 1908. Washington, D. C.: Judd & Detweiler, Inc., Printers.
- Hockey, T. (2023) Americaʼs First Eclipse Chasers: Stories of Science, Planet Vulkan, Quicksand, and the Railroad Boom. Chichester, UK: Springer Praxis Books.
- Iroshnikov, M. P. (ed.) (1985) Zapiski kapitana Filippa Ioganna Stralenberga ob istorii i geografii Rossiiskoi imperii Petra Velikogo [The Notes of Captain Philip Johan von Strahlenberg on the History and Geography of Peter the Great’s Russian Empire]. Moskva and Leningrad: Institut istorii SSSR AN SSSR.
- Maslikov, S. Iu. (2021) Nabliudeniia polnykh solnechnykh zatmenii na territorii Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka v XVIII–XIX vekakh [Observations of Total Solar Eclipses in the Territory of Siberia and Russian Far East in the 18ʰᵗ – 19ʰᵗ Centuries], in: Iazev, S. A. (ed.) Izbrannye problemy astronomii: materialy V Vserossiiskoi astronomicheskoi konferentsii “Nebo i Zemlia”, posviashchennoi 90-letiiu astronomicheskoi observatorii IGU. Irkutsk, 23–25 noiabria 2021 g. [Selected Problems of Astronomy. Proceedings of the 5ʰᵗ All-Russian Astronomical Conference “Sky and Earth”, Devoted to the 90ʰᵗ Anniversary of the Astronomical Observatory of Irkutsk State University, November 23–25, 2021]. Irkutsk: Izdatelʼstvo IGU, 2021, pp. 55–58.
- Maslikov, S. Iu. (2021) Nabliudeniia solnechnykh zatmenii v Rossii i SSSR. S drevnosti do nashikh dnei [Solar Eclipse Observations in Russia and the USSR. From Antiquity to the Present Day]. Novosibirsk: Agentstvo “Sibprint”.
- Matkhanova, N. P. (2010) Sibirskaia memuaristika XIX veka [Siberian Memoirs of the 19ʰᵗ Century]. Novosibirsk: Izdatel’stvo SORAN.
- Mezhov, V. I. (1893) Russkaia istoricheskaia bibliografiia… za 1800–1854 vkl. [Russian Historical Bibliography… 1800–1854]. Sankt-Peterburg: Tipografiia I. N. Skorokhodova.
- Mitrofanov, V. V. (2017) Maloizvestnye fakty o nauchnoi i pedagogicheskoi deiatel’nosti Nikolaia Nikolaevicha Popova [Little-Known Facts about Scientific and Pedagogical Activities of Nikolai Nikolaevich Popov], Gumanitarnyi vektor, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 19–26.
- Nabliudeniia po sluchaiu prokhozhdeniia Venery po Solntsu, v Iakutske uchinennye kapitanom Ivanom Islen’evym [Observations on the Occasion of the Passage of Venus across the Sun, Made in Yakutsk by Captain Ivan Isleniyev] (1769). Sankt-Peterburg: Pri Imperatorskoi Akademii nauk.
- Neiman, K. K. (1871) Istoricheskii obzor deistvii Chukotskoi ekspeditsii (1868–1870) [Historical Overview of the Chukotka Expedition’s Activities (1868–1870)], Izvestiia Sibirskogo otdela IRGO, vol. 1, no. 4/5, pp. 6–31.
- Nevskaia, N. I. (comp.) (2000) Istochniki po istorii astronomii v Rossii XVIII v. [Sources on the History of Astronomy in 18ʰᵗ Century Russia]. Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, vol. 1.
- Novlianskaia, M. G. (1966) Filipp Iogann Stralenberg. Ego raboty po issledovaniiu Sibiri [Philip Johan von Strahlenberg. His Works on the Exploration of Siberia]. Moskva and Leningrad: Nauka.
- Popov, N. (1853) Polnoe solnechnoe zatmenie v Kiakhte [Troitskosavske] 29/XI-1852 goda [The Total Solar Eclipse in Kyakhta [Troitskosavsk], November 29, 1852] (1853), Severnaia pchela, no. 26 (February), pp. 101–103.
- Puteshestvie flota kapitana Sarycheva po severovostochnoi chasti Sibiri, Ledovitomu moriu i Vostochnomu okeanu, v prodolzhenie os’mi let, pri geograficheskoi i astronomicheskoi morskoi ekspeditsii, byvshei pod nachal’stvom flota kapitana Billingsa, s 1785 po 1793 god. Chastʼ 1 [A Journey of Sea Captain Sarychev across the North-Eastern Part of Siberia, the Arctic Sea and the Eastern Ocean, Lasting Eight Years, During the Geographical and Astronomical Marine Expedition, Which Has Been under the Command of Sea Captain Billings, from 1785 to 1793. Part I] (1802). Sankt-Peterburg: Tipografiia Shnora.
- Rumovskii, S. Ia. (1771) Nabliudeniia iavleniia Venery v Solntse v Rossiiskoi imperii v 1769 godu uchinennye s istoricheskim preduvedomleniem [Observations of the Appearance of Venus in the Sun in the Russian Empire in 1769, with a Historical Foreword]. Sankt-Peterburg: Pri Imperatorskoi Akademii nauk.
- Sauer, M. (1802) An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia, for Ascertaining the Degrees of Latitude and Longitude of the Mouth of the River Kovima. London: A. Strahan.
- Shirina, D. A. (1993) Ekspeditsionnaia deiatel’nostʼ Akademii nauk na severo-vostoke Azii. 1861–1917 gg. [Expeditionary Activities of the Academy of Sciences in Northeast Asia. 1861–1917]. Novosibirsk: VO “Nauka”, pp. 6–25.
- Shirina, D. A. (1994) Peterburgskaia akademiia nauk i Severo-Vostok. 1725–1917 gg. [St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and the North-East. 1725–1917]. Novosibirsk: Nauka.
- Sviatskii, D. O. (2007) Astronomiia Drevnei Rusi [Astronomy of Ancient Rus]. Moskva: Russkaia panorama.
- Volkovskii, M. (1852) Issledovanie polnogo solnechnogo zatmeniia 29 noiabria / 11 dekabria 1852 goda [Study of the Total Solar Eclipse of November 29 / December 11, 1852]. Kazan’: Tipografiia Imperatorskogo Kazanskogo universiteta.
- Zubov, V. P. (1956) Istoriografiia estestvennykh nauk v Rossii (XVIII v. – pervaia polovina XIX v.) [Historiography of Natural Sciences in Russia (18ʰᵗ Century – First Half of the 19ʰᵗ Century)]. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR.
