Saturday, 3 October 2026

How people watched the solar eclipse of 12 August 1654

Engraving of townspeople looking at the sky with a moon-like disc, a vessel of water at left, children on the ground and a windmill behind.

Observing a Solar Eclipse in the Seventeenth Century.

On 12 August 1654, people looked at the sun through smoked glass; the more resourceful used a mirror, and the very cunning a dish or a bucket of water.

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