[Music] the last time the world witnessed a total solar eclipse was in 2017 and its presence delighted enthusiastic sky watchers this is absolutely insane but what if instead of a rare phenomena a total solar eclipse became an everyday thing would you live in complete darkness when does a total solar eclipse occur and what would happen to the moon this is what if and here's what would happen if there were a permanent solar eclipse a dragon devouring the Sun a giant Puma demon a pair of sky wolves throughout history and across cultures an eclipse has been
interpreted as a perplexing or fearful event even the 2017 total eclipse raised claims of impending apocalypse by evangelists groups in the United States but what if the next Eclipse didn't end in this scenario we're talking about a total solar eclipse which only happens under very specific circumstances first it has to be a new moon phase second the moon has to be at its closest position to earth also called perigee and third the moon has to be directly in front of the Sun it's like a sunset this rare planetary alignment would suddenly become a normal occurrence
but don't worry you wouldn't live in the moon's shadow all the time there are two parts to the moon's shadow the Umbra is the dark center and the pen Umbra is the outside edge where only part of the Sun is blocked by the moon the Umbra has a diameter of 267 kilometers which is about the size of the state of West Virginia in the United States because of the Earth's axis this large shadow would sweep across different parts of the globe during different seasons the rest of the planet would be in the penumbra you still
get sunlight just not as much as you used to and life would certainly be a little dimmer existence on earth is closely tied to the transition of day tonight a total solar eclipse would disrupt this pattern and wreak havoc on other natural cycles under the Umbra the temperature would drop about five degrees even minimal fluctuations have significant impact temperature changes and lack of sunshine are not great for agriculture so we would have to get creative with growing our crops in this new cycle of light and dark we would also see an increase in seasonal affective
disorder or sad this subtype of depression occurs during long winter months in high latitudes with lack of sunshine you'd probably feel some of the same hopelessness and loss of energy under the moon's shadow though we'd have to come up with a new diagnosis maybe Eclipse affective disorder in a typical total solar eclipse the Umbra moves across the globe from west to east lasting only about seven and a half minutes this is because the moon rotates around the earth making a static Eclipse impossible so the only way we could see a permanent solar eclipse is if
the moon stopped rotating around the earth without its own trajectory the moon wouldn't be able to resist the gravitational pull from earth and would eventually destroy us then a total eclipse really would be a doomsday warning observing a total solar eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity let's hope it stays the Marvel it is life on Earth relies on the predictable pattern of the Sun and the moon and we would be in big trouble if our orderly cosmos changed if planet Earth screeched to a halt and stopped orbiting around the Sun what then well that's a story
for another what-if [Music]
