Written in the Stars

The five moments in this challenge

The scenes are shown below — tap a card to reveal its place and year.

1. 

   Round 1 · 1618

   Kepler's Harmonic Revelation

   Linz, Austria

   Working in a provincial Austrian city, mathematician Johannes Kepler finally realized the square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its semi-major axis, publishing his Third Law of Planetary Motion.

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2. 

   Round 2 · 1919

   Proof in the Shadow

   Sobral, Brazil

   British astronomers set up specialized telescopes in a town square during a total solar eclipse, successfully capturing the bending of starlight around the sun to prove Albert Einstein's radical new theory of general relativity.

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3. 

   Round 3 · 1054

   Painting the Dead Star

   Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA

   As the spectacular Crab Nebula supernova burned brightly enough to be seen in the daytime sky, Ancestral Puebloan stargazers painted a lasting pictograph of the brilliant new star alongside a crescent moon.

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4. 

   Round 4 · 1806

   The Prophet Blots the Sun

   Greenville, Ohio, USA

   Challenged by a skeptical American governor to perform a miracle, Shawnee leader Tenskwatawa accurately predicted a total solar eclipse, cementing his status as a prophet and uniting Native tribes in a powerful confederacy.

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5. 

   Round 5 · 585 BC

   The Battle of the Eclipse

   Kızılırmak River, Turkey

   After five grueling years of war between the Lydians and the Medes, a sudden total solar eclipse turned day to night, terrifying both armies into laying down their weapons and immediately negotiating peace.

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