Solar and Lunar Eclipses

THE LUNAR ECLIPSE

PENUMBRAL
      - When the moon passes through the penumbral(or outer) shadow of the Earth but very little difference can be observed. The closer the moon gets to the Earth's umbral(or inner) shadow, the less subtle the difference.

PARTIAL
      - When part of the moon passes through the Earth's umbral(or inner) shadow, the moon partially shades to dark and is very easy to observe with the naked eye.

TOTAL
      - When the entire moon passes through the Earth's umbral(or inner) shadow, the moon (during totality) turns a rich dark reddish hue. A very interesting and memorable event. Dont miss the next one!

A lunar eclipse is caused when the path of the Earth blocks the light of the sun from reaching a full moon, in other words when a full moon moves into the Earth's shadow. During totality, the moon reaches a dark reddish hue. This is caused by light refraction. Although no light is reaching the surface of the moon during a lunar eclipse, some sunlight bends around the surface of the Earth and is refracted, or bent, by the Earth's atmosphere. When this refraction occurs, blue light is removed and only the reddish hue you see here remains.

LUNAR ECLIPSE LISTINGS ( all times are GMT )


 2003 Nov. 9th 1:15  - (TOTAL) - Americas, Europe - C. Asia 
 2004 May 4th 20:35  - (TOTAL) - S. America, Europe - Asia    
 2004 Oct. 28th 3:09  - (TOTAL) - Americas, Europe - C. Asia    
 2005 Apr. 24th 10:08  - (PENUMB) - E. Asia, Pacific - Americas  
 2005 Oct. 17th 12:15  - (PARTIAL) - Asia, Pacific - N. America 
 2006 Mar. 14th 23:37  - (PENUMB) - Americas, Europe - Asia   
 2006 Sep. 7th 18:42  - (PARTIAL) - Europe, Asia - Aus.   
 2007 Mar. 3rd 23:18  - (TOTAL) - Americas, Europe - Asia  
 2007 Aug. 28th 10:35  - (TOTAL) - E. Asia, Pacific - Americas 
 2008 Feb. 21st 03:32  - (TOTAL) - C. Pacific, Americas - Africa
 2008 Aug 16th 21:18  - (PARTIAL) - S. America, Europe - Aus.

THE SOLAR ECLIPSE

PARTIAL
      - When the Earth lies in the penumbral(or outer) shadow of the moon and the moon covers only part of the sun.

TOTAL
      - When the Earth lies in the umbral(or inner) shadow of the moon and the moon completely covers the sun. This turns the night into day and is quite a spectacular event!

ANNULAR
      - An annular eclipse is when the moon is too far from the Earth to completely cover the sun and a thin ring of of sunlight surrounds the moon.

HYBRID
      - Also an annular eclipse, the hybrid eclipse is rare and has a very short duration because the path of totality is very small.

A solar eclipse occurs when the path of the new moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching the Earth, in other words when the Earth is in the shadow of the new moon. During totality, the Earth becomes dark, sunlight is minimized and the moon is finally seen with the Sun's corona surrounding it in the dark daytime sky.

Only at this present time, in this Earth-moon system, does the angular size of the Moon match the angular size of the Sun as seen from the Earth's surface. What this means is that sometime during it's orbit, the Moon can exactly cover the sun, causing the Earth to suddenly be flooded with night in the middle of the day. A truly strange occurrence indeed! Eventually, in time, the moon's movement away from the Earth in orbit, will cause it to no longer be able to completely cover the sun and there will be no more 'nighttime day' as happens now, in this time period.

SOLAR ECLIPSE LISTINGS ( all times are GMT )


 2003 Nov 23rd 23:00  - (TOTAL) - Aus., Antarctica 
 2004 Apr 19th 13:22  - (PARTIAL) - Antarctica, S. Africa    
 2004 Oct. 14th 2:49  - (PARTIAL) - E. Asia, Hawaii, Alaska    
 2005 Apr. 8th 20:33  - (HYBRID) - Americas  
 2005 Oct. 3rd 10:28  - (ANNULAR) - Europe, Africa, S. Asia 
 2006 Mar. 29th 10:16  - (TOTAL) - Africa, Europe, W. Asia   
 2006 Sep. 22nd 11:46  - (ANNULAR) - S. America, Antarctica  
 2007 Mar. 19th 2:43  - (PARTIAL) - Asia, Alaska  
 2007 Sep. 11th 12:45  - (PARTIAL) - S. America, Antarctica 
 2008 Feb. 7th 03:45  - (ANNULAR) - Antarctic
 2008 Aug 1st 10:13  - (TOTAL) - NE N. America, Europe - Asia

OTHER ECLIPSE FACTS

         A lunar eclipse can only occur at the full moon.

         A solar eclipse can only occur at the new moon.

         Everyone on the night side of Earth can see a lunar eclipse.

         No more than 3 lunar eclipses can occur in a calendar year.

         No more than 7 eclipses of any kind can occur in a calendar year.

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