Eclipses

In its orbit, the earth, together with the other planets, orbits the sun. The moon, in turn, rotates all around the earth in its orbit. There will come a day when the three celestial bodies will be aligned in a straight line. An eclipse happens at this time. It’s an astronomical phenomenon that happens whenever one spatial object passes across the shadow of some other spatial object. This makes it impossible for the observer to see one of them in space. There are two types of eclipses that we see on Earth: solar and lunar eclipses. 

What is an Eclipse?

A solar eclipse happens because of the Moon’s shadow covering the Earth’s surface, and a lunar eclipse happens whenever the Moon moves through into the Earth’s shadow. It can relate to events occurring outside the Earth-Moon system, such as planets passing through the shadows of one of the moons, a moon passing through the shadow of its host planet, or even a moon passing through the shadows of another moon. A binary star system can produce eclipses if the plane of its own constituent stars’ orbits intersects the observer’s location.

Types of Eclipse and How it’s Working? 

Whenever the Sun, Moon, and Earth coincide with each other, a solar and lunar eclipse occurs. A solar eclipse happens when the Moon blocks the Sun’s light like it did on August 21, 2017. So when the Moon slips behind the Earth and into its shadow, it is called a lunar eclipse. 

Lunar Eclipse

Whenever the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon, it is called a lunar eclipse. Even as the Moon travelled closer to the centre of Earth’s shadow, the Sun’s light streaming through Earth illuminated it, providing it with an orange tone. Total, partial, or penumbral lunar eclipses are also the three forms of lunar eclipses.

 Total lunar eclipses occur whenever the Moon moves through into the umbral shadow of the Earth, providing it with a reddish-orange hue. The umbral shadow causes the red-orange glow. That’s the shadow’s deepest, darkest corner. So because the Sun’s light passes all around the entire circumference of the Earth, this has a reddish colour. Whenever the Moon moves into only a section of the Earth’s shadow, it is called a partial lunar eclipse. Based on how far into the shadow the Moon moves, the orange glow may or may not appear.

Solar Eclipse

Every year, there are two full or partial solar eclipses. Five solar eclipses would occur in a year is a very rare situation. The last time something like this occurred was in 1935, and then the next time will be in 2206. Total, partial, yearly, and hybrid eclipses seem to be the four forms of solar eclipses.

Total solar eclipses occur whenever the moon totally obscures the sun. Total solar eclipses can only be seen from a certain location on the globe. Because the moon is much smaller than the Earth, its shadow would only travel along a short path across the planet’s surface. Just a partial solar eclipse would be visible in areas around that path.

Whenever the Moon does not entirely hide the Sun, it is called a partial solar eclipse. Just a piece of the Sun is covered because the Moon passes off-centre.

Even though the Moon is perfectly centred in front of the Sun, an annular eclipse happens when the Moon does not entirely cover it. So because the Moon’s orbit is elliptical and also the Moon is closer to the Earth, this occurs. The bright ring surrounding the Moon throughout this type of eclipse is known as the “ring of fire.”

A hybrid eclipse is a cross between a total as well as an annular eclipse; it begins as one and ends as the other.

What to Look Out For During an Eclipse

First Contact

As observed from the Northern Hemisphere, the eclipse occurs when the moon initially “touches” the edge of the solar disc, approaches it from the right. (Of course, it doesn’t truly touch the Sun, but it seems to do so as it passes in front of the solar disc.)

Second Contact

The second contact happens just before totality, whenever the moon nearly completely covers the Sun. The Diamond Ring is a magnificent effect created by the last dazzling flash of the Sun mixed with an emerging view of the corona surrounding the moon.

Totality

The Sun is now entirely obscured, exposing the solar corona in all its splendour. The corona, the Sun’s upper atmosphere, that streams out into space just above the sun’s surface, is only seen during the few minutes of the total solar eclipse on Earth. The delicate light of the corona is usually overshadowed by the dazzling photosphere. This is the only time of year when gazing at the Sun with your naked eye is safe. You’ll note that the sky has darkened and the temperature has decreased, similar to twilight if you can take your gaze away from the Sun for a few seconds. The brighter stars and planets have emerged in the sky. Where the Earth is experiencing a partial eclipse, the horizon is lit up everywhere around you, like a 360° sunset.

Conclusion

An eclipse seems to be an astronomical event whereby an astronomical object and spacecraft is partly covered by passing through to the shadow of some other body or bypassing between both the observer and the object being eclipsed. The alignment of three celestial objects is known as a syzygy. Aside from syzygy, the word eclipse could be applied whenever a spacecraft reaches a location in which it can view two aligned celestial objects. An occultation (completely hidden) or even a passing of the sun can generate an eclipse (partially hidden).