Solar eclipse: 5 myths associated with it busted by scientists

A rare celestial event known as the 'Ningaloo Eclipse' is underway in several parts of the world as the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned together. The astronomical event began at 7 am and and is expected to last for five hours. As we get eclipse ready, NASA busts seven myths associated with solar eclipse.

MYTH: Total solar eclipses produce harmful rays that can cause blindness

According to NASA, during a total solar eclipse when the disk of the moon fully covers the sun, the brilliant corona emits only electromagnetic radiation, though sometimes with a greenish hue. Scientists, who studied this radiation believe that it could cross 150 million kilometers of space ,penetrate our dense atmosphere, and cause blindness.

MYTH: If you are pregnant you should not watch an eclipse because it can harm your baby.

"It is believed that harmful radiations are emitted during a total solar eclipse. Although the electromagnetic radiation from the corona, seen as light, is perfectly safe, there is another form of radiation that travels to Earth from the sun. This is an entirely harmless effect and would not harm you, or if you are pregnant, the developing fetus," the US space agency explained.

MYTH: Eclipses will poison any food that is prepared during the event

"Related to the false idea of harmful solar rays is that during a total solar eclipse, some kind of radiation is produced that will harm your food. If someone is accidentally food-poisoned with potato salad during an eclipse, some might argue that the event was related to the eclipse itself even though hundreds of other people at the same location were not at all affected," NASA said.

MYTH: Eclipses are harbingers of something very bad about to happen.

"A classic case of what psychologists call Confirmation Bias is that we tend to remember all the occasions when two things happened together, but forget all of the other times when they did not. This gives us a biased view of causes and effects that we remember easily, because the human brain is predisposed to looking for, and remembering, patterns that can be used as survival rules-of-thumb," according to NASA.

MYTH: Solar Eclipses foretell major life changes and events about to happen

"This is a common interpretation found in astrological forecasts, which are themselves based upon coincidences and non-scientific beliefs in how celestial events control human behavior. A common qualification is that if the eclipse doesn't foretell a change in your life it may foretell a change in that of your friends. This is a logically-flawed used of confirmation bias in which you prove a cause-and-effect relationship by ignoring failures and only consider successful forecasts. There is nothing other than human psychology that connects eclipses with future events in your life," NASA explains.