What If There Were a Permanent Solar Eclipse?

WHAT IF

What would happen if it stayed forever?

Transcript

00:00 The last time the world witnessed

00:07 a total solar eclipse was in 2017,

00:10 and its presence delighted

00:13 enthusiastic sky watchers.

00:15 "This is absolutely insane."

00:19 But what if, instead of a rare phenomenon,

00:24 a total solar eclipse

00:26 became an everyday thing?

00:30 Would you live in complete darkness?

00:34 When does a total solar eclipse occur?

00:39 And what would happen to the Moon?

00:43 This is WHAT IF,

00:45 and here's what would happen

00:46 if there were a permanent solar eclipse.

00:50 A dragon devouring the Sun.

00:54 A giant puma demon.

00:56 A pair of sky wolves.

00:59 Throughout history and across cultures,

01:02 an eclipse has been interpreted

01:04 as a perplexing or fearful event.

01:07 Even the 2017 total eclipse

01:10 raised claims of impending apocalypse

01:13 by evangelist groups in the United States.

01:17 But what if the next eclipse didn't end?

01:22 In this scenario,

01:24 we're talking about a total solar eclipse,

01:26 which only happens under very specific circumstances.

01:31 First, it has to be a new Moon phase.

01:35 Second, the Moon has to be

01:37 at its closest position to Earth,

01:40 also called perigee.

01:43 And third, the Moon has to be

01:46 directly in front of the Sun.

01:48 "It's like a sunset all the way around me."

01:52 This rare planetary alignment

01:54 would suddenly become a normal occurrence.

01:58 But don't worry,

01:59 you wouldn't live in the Moon's shadow all the time.

02:03 There are two parts to the Moon's shadow.

02:06 The umbra is the dark center,

02:08 and the penumbra is the outside edge,

02:11 where only part of the Sun is blocked by the Moon.

02:15 The umbra has a diameter of 267 km (1,000 mi),

02:20 which is about the size of the state of West Virginia

02:23 in the United States.

02:26 Because of the Earth's axis,

02:28 this large shadow would sweep

02:30 across different parts of the globe

02:32 during different seasons.

02:34 The rest of the planet would be in the penumbra.

02:38 You'd still get sunlight,

02:39 just not as much as you used to.

02:42 And life would certainly be a little dimmer.

02:45 Existence on Earth is closely tied

02:48 to the transition of day to night.

02:51 A total solar eclipse would disrupt this pattern

02:54 and wreak havoc on other natural cycles.

02:57 Under the umbra,

02:58 the temperature would drop about 5°C (10°F).

03:02 Even minimal fluctuations have significant impact.

03:05 Temperature changes and lack of sunshine

03:07 are not great for agriculture,

03:10 so we would have to get creative

03:11 with growing our crops

03:13 in this new cycle of light and dark.

03:16 We would also see an increase

03:18 in seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

03:22 This subtype of depression

03:25 occurs during long winter months

03:27 in high latitudes with lack of sunshine.

03:31 You'd probably feel some of the same hopelessness

03:34 and loss of energy under the Moon's shadow.

03:38 Though we'd have to come up with a new diagnosis,

03:41 maybe eclipse affective disorder.

03:44 In a typical total solar eclipse,

03:47 the umbra moves across the globe

03:49 from west to east,

03:51 lasting only about 7.5 minutes.

03:54 This is because the Moon rotates around the Earth,

03:58 making a static eclipse impossible.

04:02 So the only way we could see a permanent solar eclipse

04:06 is if the Moon stopped rotating around the Earth.

04:10 Without its own trajectory,

04:12 the Moon wouldn't be able to resist

04:14 the gravitational pull from Earth,

04:16 and would eventually destroy us.

04:22 If that were the case,

04:23 then a total eclipse

04:25 really would be a doomsday warning.

04:28 Observing a total solar eclipse

04:30 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

04:33 Let's hope it stays the marvel it is.

04:37 Life on Earth relies on the predictable pattern

04:40 of the Sun and the Moon,

04:42 and we would be in big trouble

04:44 if our orderly cosmos changed.

04:48 If planet Earth screeched to a halt

04:50 and stopped orbiting around the Sun,

04:53 what then?

04:55 Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.

05:00 [music]

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