If you do not delve into the essence of the phenomenon, then we can say that an eclipse is a temporary disappearance of the Sun or Moon from the sky. How does this happen?
Solar and Lunar eclipse
Solar eclipse
Here, for example, the Moon, passing between the Earth and the Sun, completely or partially blocks the Sun from the earthly observer. This is a solar eclipse. Or the Moon, making its way around the Earth, gets into such a position that the Earth is on a straight line connecting the Moon and the Sun.
The Earth's shadow falls on the Moon, and it disappears from the sky. This is a lunar eclipse. Eclipses happen because celestial bodies are constantly changing location. The earth revolves around the sun, and the moon revolves around the earth. Both of these processes take place simultaneously. If for a few minutes the Moon, Earth and Sun are in the same line, an eclipse begins. A total solar eclipse is a very rare and dramatic event.
During a total solar eclipse, it seems that some huge monster devours the Sun piece by piece. When the Sun disappears, the firmament darkens and stars are visible in the sky. The air is rapidly cooling. Soon there is nothing left of the Sun but a thin luminous ring, as if hanging in the sky, we see part of the flaming solar corona.
Interesting fact: During a total solar eclipse, the air temperature drops, the sky darkens and stars appear on it.
What happens during a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse Ancient Chinese artists depicted a solar eclipse as a dragon devouring the sun. In fact, after a few minutes, the Sun comes out of "shelter", and the night turns into a clear day again. This dragon turns out to be the Moon, which passed between the Earth and the Sun. To finally understand what happens during an eclipse, conduct a simple experiment. Turn on the table lamp and look at it.
Now take a piece of cardboard and move it slowly in front of your eyes so that at the end of the movement the cardboard is between your eyes and the lamp. The moment when the cardboard closes the lamp from your eyes corresponds to the moment the solar eclipse begins. The cardboard is far from the lamp, but once in front of your eyes, it blocks the light of the lamp from you. If you lead the cardboard further, then the lamp will open again to your gaze.
Total and partial solar eclipse
The same can be said about the Moon. You see a solar eclipse when the Moon, crossing the daytime sky, is between the Sun and the illuminated face of the Earth, blocking the light of the Sun from it. If the Moon blocks only part of the Sun, then a partial solar eclipse occurs.
Part of the solar surface is obscured by the Moon and twilight sets in for a few minutes. But if the Moon passes exactly between the Earth and the Sun, then a total solar eclipse occurs. The Moon completely obscures the disk of the Sun. Total eclipses are very rare. Usually the trajectory of the Moon's orbit passes either above or below the Sun.
Because of these oscillations, the Moon is on an imaginary line connecting the Earth and the Sun only once every one or two years. To see a total solar eclipse, you need to be in the right place at the right time. If you sit in one place and do not show activity, then, perhaps, you can observe one partial eclipse of the Sun once every two years. A total eclipse can take hundreds of years.
The lucky ones in Nova Scotia saw a total eclipse of the Sun in 1970 and again in 1972. But, for example, in London, the last solar eclipse was in 1715, and the next one will take place only after 2700. So Londoners will have to wait a bit. But if you specifically hunt for eclipses, then total eclipses can be observed quite often.
A total solar eclipse took place in Finland on July 22, 1990. A total eclipse was observed on the beaches of Hawaii on July 11, 1991. On June 30, 1992, a total eclipse could be seen from ships crossing the South Atlantic. November 3, 1994 total solar eclipse should occur in Chile or Brazil.
A total solar eclipse, visible from the United States, occurred on February 26, 1979. Writer Annie Dillard described this event in the story "Total Eclipse". It was in the morning. Many people gathered on the slopes of the hills in the suburbs of Washington. “When the eclipse began,” writes Dillard, “the blue of the sky turned into indigo. The mountains on the horizon turned red, the grass on the slopes of the hills turned silver. Finally, the black veil swallowed the Sun. There was a small white hoop hanging in the blackened sky. “Before the sun went down completely,” continues Dillard, “something unexpected happened. A wall of dark shadow ran at great speed across the Earth and over the people watching the eclipse. Now the shadow flooded the valley, now it plunged into darkness. It was a monstrous, swift shadow of the moon.
Why are solar eclipses possible?
The Moon is only 1/400 the diameter of the Sun, but it is so much closer to the Earth than the Sun that their diameters become roughly equal. This remarkable coincidence makes total solar eclipses possible, when the contour of the Moon completely coincides with the contour of the Sun.
As the Sun began to appear in the sky again, the wall swept past again, this time the wall of shadow receding. She rolled over our hill and rushed east with incomprehensible speed and in an instant disappeared over the horizon. She brought us into disarray, just destroyed and disappeared. The wall of shadow flying at a speed of 1,600 kilometers per hour made many spectators scream in horror.
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Observations of the Moon explained the causes of eclipses. It is clear that eclipses of the Sun can only occur during the new moon, that is, when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun.
The moon blocks the light of the sun, casting a shadow on the earth. In those places where this shadow passes, a solar eclipse is observed.
A shadow strip 200-250 kilometers wide, accompanied by a wider penumbra, runs over the earth's surface at high speed. Where the shadow is thickest and darkest, there is a total solar eclipse; it can last, at most, about 8 minutes: in the same place where the penumbra falls, there is no longer a total, but a partial, partial eclipse. And beyond this penumbra, no eclipse can be detected anymore - the Sun still shines there.
So people finally found out why a solar eclipse occurs and, having calculated the distance from the Earth to the Moon, equal to 380 thousand kilometers, knowing the speed of the Moon around the Earth in the Earth around the Sun, they could already determine with absolute accuracy when and where solar eclipses will be visible .
And when these until then mysterious heavenly phenomena became clear to people, people also understood that much of what is said in the Holy Scripture does not correspond to reality. There is a fairy tale that on the day of Christ's death the sun darkened and "darkness reigned over the whole earth from the sixth hour to the ninth hour." And we know that it couldn't be. To do this, it was necessary to perform another miracle - to stop the movement of heavenly bodies for three hours. But this is as absurd as the tale of Joshua, who ordered the sun to stop.
Knowing the cause of a solar eclipse, it is easy to determine why there are lunar eclipses.
Lunar eclipses, as we can imagine, can only happen during a full moon, which is when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon. Falling into the shadow cast by our planet into space, the Earth's satellite - the Moon - is eclipsed, and since the Earth is many times larger than the Moon, the Moon no longer for a few minutes, but for two or three hours, enters the dense shadow of the Earth and hides from our eye.
Eclipses of the moon people were able to predict two thousand years ago. Centuries-old observations of the sky made it possible to establish a strict, but rather complex, periodicity of lunar and solar eclipses. But why they happened - it was not known. Only after the discoveries of Copernicus. Galileo, Kepler and many other remarkable astronomers, it became possible to predict the beginning, duration and place of solar and lunar eclipses with an accuracy of up to a second. With almost the same accuracy, it is possible to establish exactly when solar and lunar eclipses occurred - a hundred, three hundred, a thousand or tens of thousands of years ago: on the eve of the battle of the Russian army, Prince Igor with the Polovtsians, on the birthday of the Egyptian pharaoh Psametikh, or on that distant the morning when the progenitor of modern man first armed his hand with a stone.
Thus, we can conclude that solar or lunar eclipses do not at all represent any extraordinary celestial phenomena. They are natural, and, of course, there is nothing supernatural in these phenomena and cannot be.
Eclipses of the Moon and the Sun also happen quite often. Several such eclipses occur annually around the globe. Solar eclipses, of course, are observed only in certain places: where the shadow of the Moon runs across the globe, eclipsing the light of the Sun.
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Everyone has seen a solar eclipse at least once in their life, or at least heard of it. This phenomenon has attracted attention for a long time ...Everyone has seen a solar eclipse at least once in their life, or at least heard of it. This phenomenon has long attracted attention - at all times it was considered a harbinger of misfortune, some nations perceived it as God's wrath. It really looks a little creepy - the solar disk completely or partially covers the black spot, the sky darkens, and sometimes you can even distinguish stars on it. In animals and birds, this phenomenon causes fear - they gather in flocks and seek shelter. Why does a solar eclipse happen?
The essence of this phenomenon is quite simple - the Moon and the Sun line up in one line, and thus our earthly satellite obscures the luminary. The Moon is much smaller than the Sun, but because it is much closer to the Earth, a person observing a solar eclipse will see that it covers the entire solar disk.
A solar eclipse can be total or partial, depending on how much the Moon covers our star.
On average, the Earth experiences 2 to 5 eclipses every year.
Sometimes you can observe a rare astronomical phenomenon - the so-called ring eclipse. At the same time, the Moon seems smaller than the Sun, and covers only its middle part, exposing the solar atmosphere. This type of eclipse is extremely valuable for researchers of processes occurring on our star. It makes it possible to better view the upper layers of the Sun. In particular, such eclipses have been of great help in the study of the solar corona. It happens that the Moon seems to be larger than the Sun, then the disk turns out to be covered so much that even the rays emanating from it are not visible from the Earth. Such a variety of eclipses is explained by the fact that the lunar orbit has an elongated ellipsoidal shape, so at different times of the year it is further or closer to the Earth.
Scientists have long found the answer to the question of how and why a solar eclipse occurs., saving mankind from prejudices in relation to this phenomenon. Moreover, it can now be predicted. This made it possible to take a fresh look at many historical events. So, the chroniclers, describing the battles and other important events, often mentioned that a solar eclipse happened that day, without giving the exact date. Now, thanks to the calculations of modern scientists, these dates have been restored.
Everyone has seen such an astronomical phenomenon as a solar eclipse at least once in their life. Even in ancient sources, people mentioned it, and today, at least once or twice a year, partial or complete eclipses can be seen all over the Earth. Eclipses occur regularly, several times a year, and even the exact dates of the next ones are known.
What is a solar eclipse?
Objects in outer space are arranged in such a way that the shadow of one can overlap another. The moon provokes a solar eclipse when it covers the fiery disk. At this moment, the planet becomes a little colder and noticeably darker, as if it were evening. Animals and birds are frightened in this incomprehensible situation, plants fold their leaves. Even people used to treat such astronomical jokes with great excitement, but with the development of science, everything fell into place.
How does a solar eclipse happen?
The moon and the sun are at different distances from our planet, so they appear to people to be almost the same size. On the new moon, when the orbits of both cosmic bodies intersect at one point, the satellite closes the luminary for the earthly viewer. A solar eclipse is a bright and memorable astronomical event, but it is impossible to fully enjoy it for several reasons:
- The blackout band is not wide by earthly standards, no more than 200-270 km.
- Due to the fact that the diameter of the Moon is much smaller than the Earth's, you can see the eclipse only in certain places on the planet.
- The so-called "phase of darkness" lasts several minutes. After that, the satellite moves aside, continuing to rotate in its orbit, and the star again "works in the usual mode."
What does a solar eclipse look like?
When an earthly satellite obscures a heavenly body, the latter from the surface of the planet looks like a dark spot with a bright crown on the sides. The fireball is closed by another, but of a smaller diameter. A pearl-colored radiance appears around. These are the outer layers of the solar atmosphere, not visible at normal times. The "magic" lies in one moment, which can only be caught from a certain angle. And the essence of a solar eclipse is in the shadow falling from the satellite, which blocks the light. Those in the obscuration zone may see the full eclipse, others only partially or not at all.
How long does a solar eclipse last?
Depending on the latitude at which a potential terrestrial viewer is located, he can observe the eclipse from 10 to 15 minutes. During this time, there are three conditional stages of a solar eclipse:
- The Moon appears from the right side of the star.
- It passes along its orbit, gradually obscuring the fiery disk from the beholder.
- The darkest period begins - when the satellite completely obscures the luminary.
After that, the Moon departs, revealing the right edge of the Sun. The glowing ring disappears and becomes light again. The last period of a solar eclipse is short, lasting an average of 2-3 minutes. The longest recorded duration of the full phase in June 1973 was 7.5 minutes. And the shortest eclipse was visible in 1986 in the North Atlantic Ocean, when the shadow obscured the disk for only one second.
Solar eclipse - views
The geometry of the phenomenon is amazing, and its beauty is due to the following coincidence: the diameter of the star is 400 times larger than the moon, and from it to the Earth is 400 times further. Under ideal conditions, you can see a very "accurate" eclipse. But when a person looking for a unique phenomenon is in the penumbra of the moon, he notices partial obscuration. In total there are three types of eclipses:
- Total solar eclipse - if the darkest phase is visible to earthlings, the fiery disk is completely closed and there is a golden crown effect.
- Private, when one edge of the Sun is obscured by a shadow.
- An annular solar eclipse occurs when the earth's satellite is too far away and a bright ring is formed when looking at the luminary.
How dangerous is a solar eclipse?
A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that has both attracted and terrified people since ancient times. Understanding its nature, there is no point in being afraid, however, eclipses really carry colossal energy, which sometimes poses a danger to people. Doctors and psychologists consider the impact of these phenomena on the human body, arguing that hypersensitive people, the elderly and pregnant women are especially vulnerable. Three days before the event and three days after the event, health problems such as:
- headaches;
- pressure surges;
- exacerbation of chronic diseases.
What not to do during a solar eclipse?
From a medical point of view, looking at the sun during an eclipse is very dangerous, because the sun produces a large amount of ultraviolet radiation (and during an eclipse, the eyes are not protected and absorb dangerous doses of UV radiation), which is the cause of various eye diseases. Astrologers also talk about the impact of a solar eclipse on people's lives and their behavior. Experts in this field do not recommend starting new business during this period in order to avoid failures, taking on something spontaneously and making difficult decisions on which the future fate depends. From what you should not do during a solar eclipse, we can distinguish:
- alcohol and drug abuse;
- conflict resolution, as people become more irritable;
- performing complex medical procedures;
- participation in mass actions.
When will the next solar eclipse be?
In ancient times, the moment when the luminary would disappear behind the lunar disk could not be predicted. Nowadays, scientists name the exact dates and places where it is best to look beyond the eclipse and the moment of the maximum phase, when the Moon completely covers the fiery disk with its shadow. The calendar for 2018 is as follows:
- Partial dimming will be visible in Antarctica, southern Argentina and Chile on the night of February 15, 2018.
- On July 13, at southern latitudes (in Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica), one can observe a partial closure of the Sun. The maximum phase is 06:02 Moscow time.
- The nearest solar eclipse for residents of Russia, Ukraine, Mongolia, China, Canada and Scandinavia will come on August 11, 2018 at 12:47.
Solar eclipse - interesting facts
Even people who do not understand astronomy are interested in: how often a solar eclipse happens, what causes it, how long this outlandish phenomenon lasts. Many facts about him are known to everyone and surprise no one. But there is also interesting information about the eclipse, known to few.
- It is possible to observe the situation when the fiery disk is completely hidden from view in the entire solar system only on Earth.
- At any point on the planet, eclipses can be seen on average once every 360 years.
- The maximum area of overlapping of the Sun by the lunar shadow is 80%.
- In China, data were found on the first recorded eclipse, which happened in 1050 BC.
- The ancient Chinese believed that during an eclipse, the "solar dog" eats the sun. They began to beat the drums to drive the celestial predator away from the luminary. He should have been frightened and returned the stolen to the sky.
- When a solar eclipse occurs, the lunar shadow moves across the surface of the Earth at a tremendous speed - up to 2 km per second.
- Scientists have calculated: after 600 million years, eclipses will stop completely, because. the satellite will move away from the planet at a great distance.
Solar and lunar eclipses are astronomical phenomena. A solar eclipse is when the Moon completely or partially covers (eclipses) the Sun from an observer on Earth. During a lunar eclipse, the Moon enters the cone of shadow cast by the Earth.
Solar eclipse
Solar eclipses are already mentioned in ancient sources.
Solar eclipse possible only on new moon when the side of the Moon facing the Earth is not illuminated, and the Moon itself is not visible. Eclipses are possible only if the new moon occurs near one of the two lunar nodes(points of intersection of the apparent orbits of the Moon and the Sun), no more than about 12 degrees from one of them.
The moon's shadow on the earth's surface does not exceed 270 km in diameter, so a solar eclipse is observed only in a narrow band along the path of the shadow. If the observer is in the shadow strip, he sees total solar eclipse, in which the Moon completely hides the Sun, the sky darkens, and planets and bright stars can appear on it. Around the solar disk hidden by the Moon, one can observe solar corona, which is not visible under the normal bright light of the Sun. For a terrestrial observer, the total phase of the eclipse lasts no more than a few minutes. The minimum speed of the lunar shadow on the earth's surface is just over 1 km/s.
Observers near the total eclipse can see partial solar eclipse. During a partial eclipse, the Moon passes across the disk of the Sun not exactly in the center, hiding only part of it. At the same time, the sky darkens much weaker, the stars do not appear. A partial eclipse can be observed at a distance of about two thousand kilometers from the zone of total eclipse.
Astronomical characteristics of solar eclipses
Complete Such an eclipse is called if it can be observed as total at least somewhere on the surface of the Earth.
When an observer is in the shadow of the moon, he observes a total solar eclipse. When he is in the penumbra, he can observe partial solar eclipse. In addition to total and partial solar eclipses, there are annular eclipses. An annular eclipse occurs when, at the time of the eclipse, the Moon is at a greater distance from the Earth than during a total eclipse, and the shadow cone passes over the earth's surface without reaching it. During an annular eclipse, the Moon passes over the disk of the Sun, but it turns out to be smaller than the Sun in diameter, so it cannot completely hide it. In the maximum phase of the eclipse, the Sun is covered by the Moon, but a bright ring of the uncovered part of the solar disk is visible around the Moon. The sky during an annular eclipse remains bright, stars do not appear, it is impossible to observe the corona of the Sun. The same eclipse can be seen in different parts of the eclipse band as total or annular. Such an eclipse is sometimes called full annular (or hybrid).
Solar eclipses can be predicted. Scientists have long calculated eclipses for many years to come. From 2 to 5 solar eclipses can occur on Earth per year, of which no more than two are total or annular. On average, 237 solar eclipses of various types occur in a hundred years. For example, in Moscow from the 11th to the 18th centuries. there were only 3 total solar eclipses. In 1887 there was also a total eclipse. A very strong eclipse with a phase of 0.96 occurred on July 9, 1945. The next total solar eclipse is expected in Moscow on October 16, 2126.
How to watch a solar eclipse
When observing a solar eclipse, special attention should be paid to protecting the eyes from sunlight. To do this, it is recommended to use special light filters coated with a thin layer of metal. You can apply one or two layers of high-quality black-and-white photographic film coated with silver. A total solar eclipse can be observed through optical instruments even without darkening screens, but at the slightest sign of the end of the eclipse, observation should be stopped immediately. Even a thin strip of light, repeatedly amplified through binoculars, can cause irreparable damage to the retina, and therefore experts strongly recommend the use of darkening filters.
Moon eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon enters the cone of shadow cast by the Earth. This is clearly seen in the diagram presented. The diameter of the spot of the Earth's shadow is about 2.5 diameters of the Moon, so the entire Moon can be obscured. At each moment of the eclipse, the degree of coverage of the Moon's disk by the Earth's shadow is expressed by the eclipse phase F. When the Moon completely enters the Earth's shadow during an eclipse, the eclipse is called a total lunar eclipse, when it is partially - a partial eclipse. Two necessary and sufficient conditions for the onset of a lunar eclipse are the full moon and the proximity of the Earth to the lunar node (the point of intersection of the Moon's orbit with the ecliptic).
Observation of lunar eclipses
Complete
It can be observed on half of the Earth's territory where the Moon is above the horizon at the time of the eclipse. The view of the darkened Moon from any point of observation is almost the same. The maximum possible duration of the total phase of a lunar eclipse is 108 minutes (for example, July 16, 2000). But during even a total eclipse, the Moon does not disappear completely, but becomes dark red. This is due to the fact that the Moon, even in the phase of a total eclipse, continues to be illuminated. The sun's rays passing tangentially to the earth's surface are scattered in the earth's atmosphere and due to this scattering partially reach the moon. The Earth's atmosphere is most transparent to the rays of the red-orange part of the spectrum, so it is these rays that reach the surface of the Moon to a greater extent during an eclipse. But if at the time of the eclipse of the Moon (total or partial) the observer was on the Moon, then he could see a total solar eclipse (an eclipse of the Sun by the Earth).
Private
If the Moon falls into the total shadow of the Earth only partially, then a partial eclipse is observed. With it, part of the Moon is dark, and part, even in the maximum phase, remains in partial shade and is illuminated by the sun's rays.
Penumbral
Penumbra - a region of space in which the Earth obscures the Sun only partially. If the Moon passes through the penumbra but does not enter the shadow, a penumbral eclipse occurs. With it, the brightness of the Moon decreases, but only slightly: such a decrease is almost imperceptible to the naked eye and is recorded only by instruments.
Lunar eclipses can be predicted. Every year there are at least two lunar eclipses, however, due to the mismatch of the planes of the lunar and earth orbits, their phases differ. Eclipses repeat in the same order every 6585⅓ days (or 18 years 11 days and ~8 hours - this period is called saros). Knowing where and when a total lunar eclipse was observed, one can accurately determine the time of subsequent and previous eclipses that are clearly visible in this area. This cyclicity often helps to accurately date the events described in the historical annals.