It is amazing, but the Sun eclipse is a rather common astronomic event. It happens 237 times a century in average. In Moscow it was observed 159 times since XI till XVIII. Not all of them are complete: some are less effective and annular.

The distance between the Sun and Earth is 400 times bigger than Earth and Moon. The Sun itself is 400 bigger than the Moon. But when the Moon visibly covers the Sun they both seem alike in size and the smaller one covers the bigger.

Nevertheless, the shadow of the Moon is not more than 270 km in diameter, that is why the Sun eclipse cannot be seen on our planet at once. It can be captured only in as a small line, covered by the shadow. Elsewhere the eclipse is unseen or barely visible.

Before being explained by scientists, the Eclipse scared people. When during the day the sky turns dark, planets and stars occur, a "Crown" appears on the Sun which are not seen at ordinary times — that is definitely looks like a bad sign.

Chinese astronomers said that during these dark times the Sun is being absorbed by a horrible dragon. The mighty Vikings told that the sky wolves are eating the Sun and the Moon. But the situation didn't seem fatal: making loud noise, drumming and striking wood would make the wolves spit out the Sun and its satellite. The famous Russian king Igor Svyatoslavovich and his army considered this event as a symbol of bad things to come.

Nowadays the Moon's crossing over the Sun doesn't scare anybody. On the contrary — many people try to go to such places where it is seen best.

Nevertheless, it is dangerous to look at the Eclipse with bare eyes: the Sun emits infrared and ultraviolet waves that irreversibly dames eyes. In order to see the event, you have to wear special filters.

The safest and simple way to see it is by looking at a video. Especially in a hi-res one that takes you to the place of happening. On March 9, 2016 AirPano captured such an event in 360° on the Indonesian island Tidore.

In order to witness a full Sun eclipse at that time you'd have to be on the north and center of the Pacific and the East of the Indian oceans. Some phases were seen in Asia and Australia. The most of the Eclipse touched the Carolina islands: it lasted 4 minutes and 9 seconds. But Tidore island - one of the Moluccas (Maluku) islands, east-central Indonesia is the best point of view: the Sun was dark for 3 minutes and 17 seconds and it also took the Moon sometime to travel from Earth to the Sun. Our friend Denis Efremov who is the author of this video took 4 planes and a boat to get to the Tidore island.

Take a look at how it was. The next Eclipse will take place in August 21, 2017. It is prematurely called "The Great American" because it will be seen on the whole territory of the United States. In North and South America and in some parts of Asia and Europe the viewers will see only phases of this event. Don't be worried — Denis Efremov is ready to capture the full American Eclipse.

Video by Denis Efremov, stitching by Konstantin Redko

17 August 2017