A total solar eclipse

Solar eclipse

As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...

 occurred on May 3, 1715.

This total eclipse was visible across England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, northern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and northern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

.

Observations

Observations from Cambridge, England, drawing of the corona Corona A corona is a type of plasma "atmosphere" of the Sun or other celestial body, extending millions of kilometers into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but also observable in a coronagraph...  around the eclipsed sun.

A predictive map made by Halley for the path of the Moon's umbral shadow

Edmund Halley

This total solar eclipse was observed in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 from Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 in the south-west to Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

 and Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

 in the east.

This eclipse is known as Halley's Eclipse, after Edmund Halley (1656–1742) who predicted this eclipse to within 4 minutes accuracy. Halley observed the eclipse from London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 where the city of London enjoyed 3 minutes 33 seconds of totality. He also drew a predictive map showing the path of totality across England. The original map was about 30 km off the observed eclipse path. After the eclipse, he corrected the eclipse path, and added the path and description of the 1724 total solar eclipse.

Note: Great Britain didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...

until 1752, so the date was considered 22 April 1715.

External links

• Total Eclipses of the Sun, By Mabel Loomis Todd, 1894, new and revised edition by David P. Todd, 1900. http://books.google.com/books?id=FI0-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Total+Eclipses+of+the+Sun+By+Mabel+Loomis+Todd&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=7P4T7ghgPe&sig=WvDlzF7jbU8FEfnl8Yk6lGNfH9s&hl=en&ei=2wdFS6LVA4XgNb-hpPEB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false
• Halley's eclipse Hans van der Meer's Eclipse Page
• http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/rotation.html Halley is credited with the first eclipse map showing the path of the Moon's shadow across England during the upcoming total eclipse of 1715.
• Halley's Maps and Descriptions of the 1715 Total Solar Eclipse
• http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/29/338-350/245.full.pdf+html http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/29/338-350/245.full.pdf Edmund Halley, Observations of the Late Total Eclipse of the Sun on the 22d of April Last Past, Made before the Royal Society at Their House in Crane-Court in Fleet-Street, London. by Dr. Edmund Halley, Reg. Soc. Secr. with an Account of What Has Been Communicated from Abroad concerning the Same, Phil Trans R Soc 1714 29: 245-262.