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Currently Playing: Eclipses: How Scientists Predict the Unpredictable

Nearly 3,000 years ago, the ancient Babylonians began one of the longest-running science experiments in history. The goal: to predict eclipses. This singular aim has driven innovation across the history of science and mathematics, from the Saros cycle, to Greek geometry, to Newton’s calculus, to the three-body problem. Today, eclipse prediction is a precise science; NASA scientists predict eclipses hundreds of years into the future. Featuring Stephen Wolfram. ---------- Read the Quanta article "How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science": https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-ancient-art-of-eclipse-prediction-became-an-exact-science-20240405/ ---------- Chapters: 00:52 Importance of eclipses to ancient civilizations 01:20 The lunar phase cycles 02:18 Discovery of the Saros cycle by the Babylonians 03:34 The Antikythera mechanism encodes the Saros cycle 04:22 Newton's discoveries lead to new calculations of the eclipse 00:48 The three-body problem 05:24 NASA's solution to the three-body problem, location of the Earth, moon and sun 06:51 JPL Development Ephemeris 07:25 Predicting future eclipses 08:14 The end of the current Saros series ---------- - VISIT our website: https://www.quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QuantaNews - FOLLOW us Twitter: https://twitter.com/QuantaMagazine Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/