What causes a solar eclipse?
Question:
Answer:
The moon moves between Earth and the sun.
The moon is between the sun and the earth. The sun is blocked out by the moon.
Basically, it's caused by a jealous Moon trying to overshadow the Sun.
The moon passes in front of the sun, blocking out the sun, but, only at certain points of the earth.
As the moon rotates around the earth it'll come between the Sun and the Earth every month but solar eclipses aren't as easy as the moon just passing between the our planet and the sun. The moon has to be at the right time and place so that it covers the sun as they each make their own path across the sky.
From earth's perspective if the moon passes too high above the sun or too low below it (as is the case most of the time) then an eclipse won't occur. If the moon passes a little bit too low below the sun or too high above it then we might see a partial eclipse - when the sun is only partially covered by the moon.
The moon's distance from the earth is also critical. If the moon is too far away from the earth and an eclipse is said to occur, then we'll get an "annular" eclipse which is when the moon looks too small in the sky and it doesn't completely cover the sun.
See a pic of it here: http://www.racingshadow.com/seclipse/200...
versus a pic of a total solar eclipse here:
http://www.govertschilling.nl/artikelen/...
Like I said, the moon has to pass at the right time and location in the sky for an eclipse to take place..and it has to happen at an even more precise time/place for a total eclipse to take place -where the moon completely covers the sun- which is why they're so rare.
Here is a diagram of what it all looks like:
http://www.govertschilling.nl/artikelen/...
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is ligned up just perfect and is in between the Earth and the sun. When the moon's not in the perpect position, we get whats called an angular eclipse. Parts of the sun are still visible.
When viewing a solar eclipse don't look directly at the sun with out protective glasses or you may burn your retinas.
Solar Eclipses occur each time the total
consumption of hydrogenated peanut butter
in the Northern Hemisphere exceeds roughly
fifty million jars. The last time I checked the
standard of unit of measure was an 18 ounce jar
with a metal lid. The totalizer computer for
measurement of the total consumption is
located in Los Almos, New Mexico. I believe
that I read somewhere that it was a Cray 5000.
However, I could be wrong about that. i would
also like to remind all of our viewers not to look
directly at the Sun during an eclipse bercause
of possible damage to the eyes. Loss of eye sight
is serious business and suitable precautions should
be taken to insure complete safety.
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