First-century Greek philosopher Plutarch was an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia
On March 20, 71 C.E., a hybrid solar eclipse darkened skies along a path that was 19 miles (31 kilometers) wide at its peak. Totality passed over Greece, where the philosopher Plutarch observed it and noted the corona. He later wrote in his dialogue De facie in orbe lunae, “Even if the moon, however, does sometimes cover the sun entirely, the eclipse does not have duration or extension; but a kind of light is visible about the rim which keeps the shadow from being profound and absolute.” It was the first-known written description of a corona during a solar eclipse.
