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Inspired by: Simulating the solar system with 70 lines of Python code

and: Introduction to raytracing

I modified the code from the above article to raytrace the solar eclipse by simulating the motion of Earth/Moon/Sun system, and casting light from the Sun onto the Earth.

Inputs to program:
o Position, velocity, mass, and radius of E/M/S on April 8th, 14:00 UTC.
o Rotation rate of Earth.
o Axial tilt of Earth.
o Date and time of Spring Equinox.
o Force = mass x acceleration
o Force = Gravity-constant x mass1 x mass2 / radius^2
o "Blue Marble" map from https://ian.macky.net/pat/bmarbl/index.html

Start position and velocity data was from: https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/

After initialization, position and velocity data was updated every second for 9 hours using the above Newton force laws. Images were recorded once a minute. Final video was compiled at 60 frames per second, yielding one hour of real time per second of video.

You can compare the raytraced path with this version: https://nso.edu/for-public/eclipse-map-2024/