selenelion
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]French coinage, from the Ancient Greek σελήνη (selḗnē, “moon”) and ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”).
Noun
[edit]selenelion (plural selenelions)
- A lunar eclipse occurring as the moon sets, simultaneously with sunrise.
- 2001, Paul Davies, Duncan Steel, Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History (Joseph Henry Press) p. 57
- This phenomenon is called a "horizontal eclipse" or, from a French term, "selenelion." ... In modern times, the first record seems to date from 1590, when the great astronomer Tycho Brahe saw a selenelion from his observatory ....
- 2007, William Poole, "Antoine-François Payen, the 1666 Selenelion, and a Rediscovered Letter to Robert Hooke", Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Sep. 22, 2007), pp. 251-263 JSTOR
- This he immediately published, under the title Selenelion ou Apparition Luni-Solaire .... The coinage ‘selenelion’ was his own .... Payen asserted that refraction on its own could not account for a selenelion...
- 2010 June 26, Kelly Beatty, “In Search of Selenelion”, in Sky & Telescope:
- I decided to watch for an uncommon eclipse phenomenon known as selenelion, seeing the Sun near the horizon and the eclipsed Moon near the opposite horizon at the same time.
- 2014, Joe Rao, Total Lunar Eclipse On Wednesday Will Be a Rare 'Selenelion'[1]:
- On Oct. 8, Interested skywatchers should attempt to see the total eclipse of the moon and the rising sun simultaneously. The little-used name for this effect is called a "selenelion," a phenomenon that celestial geometry says cannot happen.
- 2014 October, Alan MacRobert, “Eclipse of a Large Moon”, in Sky & Telescope, page 52:
- Meteorologist Joe Rao points out that this eclipse presents an unusual chance to try seeing a selenelion: when the Sun and eclipsed Moon are both above the horizon at once.
- 2001, Paul Davies, Duncan Steel, Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History (Joseph Henry Press) p. 57