Eclipse

An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an object in space passes between the Sun, the
Moon, and the Earth, causing a temporary shadow to be cast on one of these celestial bodies.

When the moon eclipses the sun, it casts two types of shadows on earth:

Umbra – which is a small and very dark shadow.

Penumbra – it is a larger and relatively lighter shadow than the Umbra.

SOLAR ECLIPSE – occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun.

- total solar eclipse – This is the most spectacular of all eclipses because, during a total solar
eclipse, the entire sun is completely blocked out by the moon. This could only happen when the
moon is near perigee, the point of the moon’s orbit when it is closest to the Earth. The
imaginary line created by the umbral shadow is know as the Path of Totality. This diagram
shows the path of totality—the path the moon’s shadow traces across the Earth—of the same
eclipse, each seen 18 years and 11.3 days apart in different regions of the globe. If you’re in
any of the places through which this imaginary line passes, you can see when the sun gets
completely blocked out by the moon.
- Partial Solar eclipse – this type of eclipse is observed when the moon covers only a part of the
sun and casts a penumbra on Earth. Since it only covers a part of the sun, this phenomenon is
known as a partial solar eclipse.
- Annular solar eclipse – When the moon passes through the center of the sun, but its disk isn’t
big enough to cover the entire disk of the sun. When this happens, the sun’s outer edges remain
visible, making it look like a shiny, fiery ring in the sky. Unlike the total eclipse, during an annular
eclipse, the moon doesn’t completely block out the sun. This could only happen when the moon
is near apogee, the point of the moon’s orbit when it is farthest to the Earth
- Hybrid Solar Eclipse – is the rarest of all. When the moon’s position between the sun and the
earth is so delicately balanced that Earth’s curvature plays a role. During this type of eclipse,
some part of the earth witnesses an annular solar eclipse, while other parts see a total solar
eclipse. For that reason, this type of eclipse is also known as an Annular-total Solar Eclipse.

LUNAR ECLIPSE – occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the moon to be
darkened.

Earth casts two types of shadows on the moon – Umbra and Penumbra – when it is oriented between
the sun and the moon.

- Total Lunar Eclipse – A total Lunar Eclipse happens when the moon, Earth and the sun are
perfectly aligned so that the moon falls under the umbral shadow of our planet. Due to this the
moon loses its characteristic whitish-grey color and becomes a ‘sunset red’. This happens due to
refraction from the Earth’s atmosphere. The shorter, blue wavelengths of sunlight are scattered
outward by the atmosphere, while the longer red wavelengths are refracted inward toward the
moon, giving it reddish tinge during a total lunar eclipse.
 - Partial Lunar Eclipse, which happens when the moon, earth and sun align in such a way that
only part of the moon passes through the umbral shadow cast by the earth. During a partial
eclipse, you can see Earth’s shadow covering a small part of the moon’s surface.
- Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, this type of eclipse occurs when the moon passes through Earth’s
penumbral shadow. This type of eclipse is not as dramatic as other types of lunar eclipses and is
often mistaken for a regular Full Moon.

PREDICTING ECLIPSE

One of the first written records of an eclipse is credited to the ancient Chinese story of royal
astronomers Hsi and Ho. Solar eclipses were believed to be the result of a large dragon devouring the
Sun, so advance warning was required in order for the people to prepare bows and arrows to heed off
the beast. Hsi and Ho failed to predict the Chinese eclipse of the 22nd century B.C., and lost their heads
as a result.

We all know that the moon’s orbit is tipped for about 5°, as a result it is so easy to miss the mark at new
moon or full moon and usually fail to produce an eclipse.

Line of nodes – the imaginary line that represents the intersection of the orbital planes of the moon
and Earth, can you have an eclipse.

The Saros Cycle

The periodicity and recurrence of eclipses is governed by the Saros cycle, a period of approximately
6,585.3 days (18 years 11 days 8 hours). In fact, Saros comes from a Greek word that means
“repetition”.

One Saros Cycle contains 6585.321 days, which is equal to 223 lunar synodic months. Therefore, after
one Saros, the Moon is back to the same phase it had when the cycle began.

Sometimes at the beginning or end of the totality phase of a total solar eclipse, a small piece of the Sun’s
photosphere can peek out through a valley at the edge of the Moon and produce a Diamond Ring
Effect.

References

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Gbh. (2022, November 22). Lunar Eclipses Explained. PBS

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Emma. (2022, November 23). The Saros Cycle. Science at Your

Doorstep. https://scienceatyourdoorstep.com/2017/09/12/the-saros-cycle/

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