Solar eclipse of May 1, 1185

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. 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. 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. The eclipse magnitude is 1.0736. == In literature ==

{{multiple image The eclipse was mentioned in the Kievan Rus' epic poem Lay of the Host of Igor. It was seen by Prince Igor Svyatoslavich and his army whilst on their campaign against the Polovtsians, and was interpreted as a message from God prophesying trouble, frightening Igor's men who thought it a bad omen. According to the Lay, after the eclipse Igor gave a long speech to his retinue to allay their fears before proceeding on his campaign. The eclipse is mentioned in the 14th-century Laurentian Chronicle with the first detailed description of solar prominences. They were described as flame-like tongues of live embers: 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. 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 notes that scientific calculations indicate that the eclipse was not total at Melrose. 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. == References ==