Eclipses: Revealing the secret life of stars and human nature

Abstract The present paper is a tribute to the legacy left by the largest astronomical experiment of the twentieth century. Eclipses and their multifaces are the main target of this paper. We will see that eclipses not only reveal the secrets of the stars, but also those of human nature. Inspiration and fascination with eclipses have enabled us to predict the future and imagine such phenomena in other solar systems. To immerse ourselves in this fascinating world, we will walk the paths that led a kind of nomadic primate with splinters of stone and bone to create wonderful machines that took us to places never thought of. Along the way, we will reflect on how scientists and thinkers have endeavored to maintain the flame of freedom and free thought. The paper goes on to present the historical background that led to the proof of Einstein's Theory of Relativity in the Sobral's sky. The next two topics point to the open questions in astrophysics that are the result of eclipse research: the solar corona problem and the discovery of exoplanets through the planetary transit technique. Finally, a general picture of the wave of obscurantism that questions the laws of physics and, in particular, the eclipses is presented.

摘要 本论文旨在致敬二十世纪规模最大的天文实验所遗留的学术遗产。日食及其多重面向乃是本文的核心研究对象。我们将看到，日食不仅能够揭示星体的奥秘，亦能映照出人性的本质。对日食的灵感与痴迷，不仅助力我们预测天象未来，更让我们得以畅想其他太阳系中存在此类现象的可能。为沉浸式探索这一迷人领域，我们将回溯人类——这群手持石骨碎片的游牧灵长类——如何缔造出非凡机器，将我们带往此前从未设想过的疆域。沿途我们亦将反思，科学家与思想家们如何竭力守护自由思想与学术自由的火种。本文随后将梳理促成在索布拉尔（Sobral）天空下验证爱因斯坦相对论的历史背景。接下来的两个章节将聚焦日食研究催生的天体物理学未解难题：太阳日冕难题，以及通过行星凌日技术发现系外行星的相关研究。最后，本文将整体呈现一股质疑物理定律、尤其是质疑日食相关认知的蒙昧主义思潮。