Curiosity Desk: Test your eclipse knowledge with solar trivia

Jeremy Siegel: You're listening to GBH's Morning Edition. A big moment is coming up in the sky next week. One that won't make you want to turn around necessarily, but turn your head up. A total solar eclipse of the sun will be seen across parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada on Monday, April 8.

Paris Alston: Now, this marks the first time in almost 60 years that the solar eclipse path of totality will pass through New England. And to mark the occasion, we are joined by none other than the man you are hearing on the mic. GBH's Edgar B. Herrick III from the Curiosity Desk, who has a little eclipse trivia on hand. Hey Edgar.

Edgar B. Herwick III: Hey, are you all excited about the eclipse?

Alston: Yes.

Siegel: We need you more than ever at this moment, Edgar, with some eclipse trivia. Let's do this.

Herwick: Well, my thinking with this trivia is we're going to give people some kind of offbeat ideas on eclipses, stuff that they can talk about while this is happening with others, maybe quiz them. So are we ready for this? We can do true and false today if you're into it. All right. So we'll start off with this. True or false: Another full solar eclipse will occur in 2079, and Boston will be in the path of totality for that one. As I think folks know, we're like 90% around here. But, 2079.

Alston: So if this is the first time in 60 years — I'm just going based off of, you know, a cycle here, but I could be wrong.

Siegel: I'm with you on this Paris, because other parts of New England are going to be in the path of totality, right? So it seems like too much of a coincidence to come around here twice.

Herwick: But 2079, 50 years from now.

Siegel: You're making me think the answer is true after you're having us second-guess.

Alston: Don't try to trick us, Edgar.

Herwick: OK, well, it is true. May 1, 2079. Boston will be in the path of totality. So, you know, it's interesting, though, to think about this because, you know, people say like an eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And I think it is at any given place on Earth. But there is a full solar eclipse in 2026, you can see it in Spain and Portugal, 2027 in the Middle East and North Africa, 2028 in Australia and New Zealand. So frankly, if you're willing to travel, you can see the full solar eclipse most years.

Siegel: I'd like to think that there's someone out there who does their yearly trips based around solar eclipses.

Herwick: I'm sure there are. Certainly scientists.

Alston: Right? Chasing the solar eclipse.

Herwick: There's definitely like eclipse chasers. There's a movie in that.

Siegel: All right, let's make it.

Herwick: All right. So ready for another one now? True or false, OK? True or false. True or false: There is always a full moon the evening of an eclipse.

Alston: Ooh.

Herwick: So, as we know what happens in the eclipse, obviously, as the moon gets between the Earth and the sun. So then is there always a full moon? True or false: There is always a full moon.

Alston: You know what? This is where my love for astrology comes in handy.

Herwick: Oh, go on, go on.

Alston: Because I'm thinking: if there was a full moon in Libra two weeks ago, then there's not going to be a full moon in time for the eclipse. So I'm going to go with false.

Herwick: So we got one false, one true.

Siegel: I'm going with true. I'm not getting that in depth, but I'm thinking a circle needs to block a circle.

Herwick: That is true. A circle does need to block a circle. The answer is that it is false. And it's the exact opposite that is true. Which is to say that it is not a full moon but a new moon. So a new moon, which is when you don't see any moon in the sky, right? So any time that there is a full solar eclipse, there is a new moon in the sky that evening.

Siegel: I'm incredibly embarrassed by my answer because I was just thinking as if, like when you don't have a full moon, that means that there isn't a full circle up there. But of course, the moon is always a sphere.

Herwick: Yes, yes, the moon is always — the moon is always a circle.

Siegel: All right, let's move on from my embarrassment. Edgar, what do you have?

Herwick: All right, true or false on this one, are you ready for this? Now this one's a little bit complicated. There's sort of two things that can be true or false in this. True or false: On Mars, on the planet Mars, there are full solar eclipses more of the time because they have two moons on Mars. So there's two things we're asking here. Does Mars have two moons? And if so, does that mean that they have more full solar eclipses than we have here on Earth?

Alston: Oh, like a two-parter.

Herwick: It's like a two-parter.

Alston: I think it is true that Mars has two moons, if I remember correctly.

Herwick: OK, so there's stage one. OK. And that is true. Yes, Mars has two moons.

Siegel: OK, alright, we got one piece of it. I guess it has to do with how quickly they're moving around Mars. I'm just going to go with true double true here.

Herwick: You're going double true. You're going with true.

Alston: I'm going to go with true, and whether — well, I don't know. Because I'm like, the sun — I have no explanation — but I'm like, the sun can't get to both moons.

Siegel: Go with your gut.

Alston: So many at the same time equals I don't know, I'm going to say false.

Herwick: So the answer is false. Yes, it is false. And I'll tell you why. So let's talk about this. Mars does have two moons, Deimos and Phobos, and they're named after two twin Greek gods who, like, would go into war.

Alston: We got to put them in our total eclipse movie.

Herwick: Yeah, totally. Totally. But the issue on Mars is even though there are two moons, you would think they should mathematically have more eclipses. But the problem is, the moons are so small that if you were standing on the surface of Mars, they're not big enough to cover up the sun. So there are eclipses all of the time on Mars, but the moons are so small compared to where the sun is in the sky, where they are relative to the surface, that there are exactly zero full solar eclipses ever on Mars, because the moon cannot cover it completely.

Siegel: To go back to my logic: you need a big circle to cover up a big circle.

Herwick: Correct. Now they do often have lunar eclipses, where Mars is eclipsing the moons. And the big rare event that would happen on Mars is when one of the moons eclipses the other moon. That would be the big one that happens every once in a while.

Siegel: All right. Do you have any more true or false trivia for us?

Herwick: I've got one more. And if we can recall back to the beginning of this segment, we heard a tune. And this final true or false question is about that tune. So: Your question — oh, there it is again. That is the 1983 Bonnie Tyler hit single "Total Eclipse of the Heart." So true or false: this song was written by the same person who wrote "I Would Do Anything for Love," which was made famous by Meat Loaf. And "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," made famous by Celine Dion. So is the same songwriter responsible for all three of these songs?

Siegel: I'm going true. I just think that the way the song sounds is very similar to "I Would Do Anything For Love." It has that same piano and, the same sort of—

Herwick: Same kind of drama. Yeah.

Siegel: Yeah, I'm going true.

Herwick: What are you going, Paris?

Alston: I'm with you. I'm with you, Jeremy. I think I can see the thread, right? I'm going to go with true.

Herwick: And it is in fact true. The songwriter would be Jim Steinman. And there's a local connection here because Jim Steinman went to Amherst College. And in fact, that song, "Total Eclipse of the Heart," the famous phrase in there — "turn around, bright eyes" — that is a lyric that he took from a song that he wrote for his senior project at Amherst, because he basically wrote a musical. He wrote the book, the story, all of the music for this musical, which took place in like a dystopian 1969. And that phrase, "turn around, bright eyes," came from a song that he had in that musical, which was called "Formation of the Tribe." It had something to do with like, nuclear explosions and things.

Alston: I just got to say, I love the lyric, right? Because like, I mean, we wear the glasses to watch the eclipse, so the eyes are technically not bright, but somehow it makes sense.

Herwick: Yes.

Alston: I feel it, right. Like there's a cohesiveness.

Siegel: I think we've found the person who will be behind the soundtrack of our forthcoming eclipse movie, made with Edgar B. Herwick III of the Curiosity Desk.

Herwick: Stay tuned folks. I don't want to miss that one.

Siegel: This was a blast. Thank you so much for coming on for the eclipse trivia. The eclipse is happening next Monday, so don't miss it. Edgar. Thank you.

Herwick: Thank you.

Alston: You are listening to GBH's Morning Edition.