Eclipses

Recently, on August 21, North America witnessed a solar eclipse, the first in 38 years. Eclipses occur due to the periodic alignment(#fancywords) of the sun, earth and the moon. There are two kinds of eclipses: A lunar eclipse, and a solar eclipse.

Solar Eclipse

Once in a while, when the moon orbits the earth, it might line up directly between the sun and the earth. It blocks the suns rays, partially or completely, and casts a shadow on the earth’s surface. This occurs in the daytime and the light can become very dim. Sometimes, it can look as dark as night during a solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon casts two shadows on the earth’s surface: the penumbra and the umbra. The penumbra gets larger as it reaches the earth, while the Umbra gets smaller. You should never look directly at a solar eclipse; you will permanently damage your eyes. Please don’t tell me you only knew this now; I only have so much faith in humanity.

Anyways, there are 4 types of solar eclipses: Total, partial, annular and hybrid.

Total Eclipse: When the moon totally covers the sun, it is known as a total eclipse. You can see a narrow sickle of light from the sun through the moons irregularities and valleys on its surface. They form what is known as Bailey’s Beads’. This was the type of solar eclipse that occurred on 21 August.

Partial Eclipse: When the moon passes in front of the sun but off centre, revealing the sun partially. An observer is standing in the Penumbral shadow of the moon when viewing this eclipse. If they were standing in the umbra, they would see a total eclipse.*

Annual eclipse: The moon is sometimes farther or closer to the earth when orbiting. When it is farther away, an annular eclipse may occur. The moon seems too small to cover the whole sun so the sun might look like a ring of fire around the moon.

Hybrid eclipse: A hybrid eclipse is a combination of a total eclipse and an annular eclipse, hence the name. It starts as one and ends as another.**

Lunar Eclipse

 When the earth comes between the sun and the moon, it blocks the sunlight that falls on the moon’s surface. This is known as a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse can only occur when the moon is full. Although the moon is shadowed by the earth, some sunlight does reach the moon, passing through the earth’s atmosphere, which filters out most of the blue light. This makes the moon appear red to people on earth.***

Bibliography:

• nasa.gov
• A Concise Guide To The Stars And Planets

*Aw man, that sucks!

**You seriously thought it would be both at the same time? *Disappointed sigh*

***Here comes Mars with its lawyers!