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A lot of animals are afraid during an eclipse1 of the sun. Birds stop singing. Sometimes people too are afraid. Astronomers2 know the dates of eclipses and they are not afraid. The old astronomers of Babylon and Egypt had no telescopes3; but the sky in those countries is usually clear，and so they could watch the stars easily. They studied everything in the sky and they also noticed both total and partial eclipses. Because they knew the dates of eclipses，they had great power. People believed that the sky was important. They believed that an eclipse could kill a man. About 2500 years ago there was a very long war. One battle followed another， and the end never came. During one of the battles， there was a partial eclipse of the sun. The day got very dark，and the soldiers on both sides were filled with fear. They believed that the gods were angry. So they stopped fighting，and ended their long war. The sun is a star. It appears to be bigger than any other star. That is because it is near us; but the other stars are far away. The sun shines because it is very hot，but the moon shines because it reflects the suns light. It is like a big mirror. If we visited the moon，we should see the earth. It is also like a mirror and it reflects the light of the sun. Does the sun ever get dark during the day? It does so when the moon hides it. Sometimes the moon goes in front of the sun. We can watch its edge when it slowly crosses the suns disc5. Everything gets darker and darker; then，at last，we cannot see any part of the suns disc. The moon is hiding it completely. That is a total eclipse of the sun; sometimes only part of the suns disc is hidden; that is not a total eclipse. It is a partial eclipse of the sun. | 
