Welcome to EclipseDB, the world's most comprehensive digital catalog of solar and lunar eclipses, spanning from 13,000 BCE to 17,000 CE. Whether you are a researcher trying to date a 5th-century inscription or a curious observer looking for the next "Ring of Fire," this guide will help you master the tool.
1. Choosing Your Lens: Explorer vs. Archeo Mode
The site operates in two primary modes depending on your goal:
- Explorer Mode (Default): Best for general astronomy. It uses modern terminology (Saros series, Magnitude, TD — Terrestrial Dynamical Time) and is the quickest way to find future eclipses.
- Archeo-Astronomy Mode: Built for historians. This mode switches the calendar to Historical Years (where 1 BCE is followed by 1 AD) and adds Vedic parameters like Nakshatras, Rasis (Zodiac signs), and Indian Seasons (Ritus).
2. The Power of Filters
With over 142,500 eclipses in the database, the sidebar is your best friend.
- The Year Slider: Drag the handles to narrow down a century or a specific decade.
- Eclipse Type: Filter by Total (the sky goes dark), Annular (the "Ring of Fire"), or Partial.
- Advanced Logic: Expand the “Advanced range filters” section to filter by specific geographic coordinates or TropLon (the Sun’s tropical longitude relative to the seasons).
3. Understanding "Confidence Tiers"
Because Earth's rotation changes slightly over thousands of years (a value called ΔT), the exact "path" of an eclipse in 3000 BCE is harder to predict than one in 2026.
- Green / Certain: Precision within 60 km.
- Yellow / Regional: Good for general area identification.
- Purple / Speculative: The date is certain, but the shadow could have fallen anywhere in that hemisphere.
4. Interactive Maps & Planet Data
Click "More" on any eclipse row to open a deep-dive page.
- Solar Map: Features an interactive path. You can even adjust the ΔT slider to see how the path shifts if historical timekeeping varies.
- Planet Positions: See exactly where Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were located during the eclipse — vital for verifying "multi-witness" historical accounts.
- Observer Tool: Pick a city (like Varanasi or Babylon) and click Compute to see exactly what the eclipse looked like from that specific ground location.
