The lies about the supposed "eclipse of the century" circulating through the networks

A video circulating on WhatsApp warns against a supposed solar eclipse that will be seen in Colombia on August 21st. Do not waste your time According to astronomers, this information is false.

Yesterday, a video came to my WhatsApp announcing the supposed "Eclipse of the Century" in one of these mbadive chains. The video is apparently made by Ok Girls and warns that the solar eclipse will obscure everything and that "the changes that have not been seen in decades" will be visible on the planet Earth.

Beyond the catastrophic tone disguised as pink, El Espectador consulted an expert astronomer to verify the veracity of the "scientific" information that circulates through the cell phones of hundreds of people .

According to the director of the Pasto Astronomical Observatory, Alberto Quijano Vodniza, who has the dates of the next celestial events, in Colombia there will be no eclipse of sun or moon this year. Because? "It depends on the position, the place of the Earth, the alignment between the Earth, the Sun and the Moon," says the astronomer.

In short, an eclipse occurs when there is a total or partial alignment of the sun, the Earth and the Moon, and the place where the observer is located is very important to be able to to see or not.

A total eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun are set in "straight line." "The moon shadows the Earth and covers some of it, but this shadow is very small." the sun, the earth and the moon were on the same plane, there would always be total eclipses of the sun during the new moon and total lunar eclipses would occur during the full moon "

A lunar eclipse is the opposite the earth and the moon are lined up, but the one that is shadowing on the moon is the earth, and since the Earth is larger, it is easier to observe than a solar eclipse.

The dates of solar and lunar eclipses

On July 12, there will be a partial solar eclipse, but it will only be visible in the south of Australia and Antarctica.

On July 27, there is a total eclipse of the moon, but we will not see it in the country for the simple reason that It will arrive between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the moon in Colombia will take a look at the horizon at 18 o'clock. "This eclipse will be seen by African and European nations as Ireland, to name only one."

On August 10, there is a partial eclipse of It also happens after 18 hours, while the sun in Colombia has already been hidden.

On the video, Quijano reports many scientific inaccuracies, even historical ones, that eventually confuse people, but we go

"On the one hand, it is very complicated to see an eclipse of the sun. last one that was seen in Colombia was in Cali in the 90s and lasted very little, less than 5 minutes. "

The video corresponds to a solar eclipse that occurred on August 21, but the year last. The video says that the eclipse will be seen around the world and that it will be spectacular. The solar eclipse itself was spectacular, but it could not be seen anywhere on the planet (only in the United States).

On the part where the video is about 40 millimeters closer to the sun on the day of the eclipse, and weigh 1 kilo less for this reason, Quijano has two words like fists: pure straw . The claim is pretty exaggerated. The effect of gravity on the bodies is affected, and in fact there is a brightening, "but that's for a short time and it's a lot less than 1 kilo," says Quijano. Weights vary by up to 42 grams

According to the Gizmodo technological and scientific portal, Perigeo is when the Moon travels the point of its orbit closest to the center of the Earth; the opposite of the climax. This phenomenon occurs every 28 days and places us at a distance of between 356,375 and 370,350 kilometers from our satellite. On August 21, during the total solar eclipse, the center of the Earth was 365,649 kilometers from the center of the Moon (and 151.4 million kilometers from the Sun).

Obviously, the Moon and the Sun were Aligning on the same side of the Earth has a gravitational influence, an "upward" pull that makes us weigh a little less. But it's something that happens with every new moon, every 28 days. And no, it's not going to make "we all weigh 1 kilo less". Words less: Its weight changes slightly, but its fat is still there.

On the strange behavior of animals: this part of the video is true, when she says that animals will behave during the day as they do at night. "If it's daylight and it's suddenly dark, the animals do not understand why the night has fallen so fast and they go to their usual resting places.The temperature drops, you can see the stars during the day, but it lasts 7 and a half minutes per minute because it comes back to the day when the eclipse ends. "

In the past, eclipses of the sun have been the occasion of scientists of the world whole to determine the size of the sun, or to check the theory of relativity of Einstein.