What is Solar Eclipse ? Facts to explore

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Today on 21 August 2017 , whole America will witness Total Solar Eclipse.People are connected to it religiously or spiritually but astronomy lovers are always keen about this special event.
When we talk about solar eclipse, some people are not aware about this phenomena.

So, let's see what are solar eclipses...

What Are Solar Eclipses?🌞🌝🌍

A solar eclipse is a spectacular sight and a rare astronomical event.

Sometimes when the moon orbits Earth, it moves between the sun and Earth. When this happens, the moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching Earth. This causes an eclipse of the sun, or solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon casts a shadow onto Earth.

Solar Eclipse is actually an astronomical (universal) phenomena in which the Moon eclipses the Sun.
An eclipse of the Sun happens when the New Moon  moves between the Sun and Earth, blocking out the Sun's rays and casting a shadow on parts of Earth.

The Moon's shadow is not big enough to engulf the entire planet, so the shadow is always limited to a certain area. This area changes during the course of the eclipse because the Moon and Earth are in constant motion.Earth continuously rotates around its axis while it orbits the Sun, and the Moon orbits Earth. This is why solar eclipses seem to travel from one place to another.

There are different types of Solar Eclipses. Solar eclipses can have a maximum point which is either partial, annular, or total. Hybrid eclipses have an annular and total maximum point in different locations as described by site Timeanddate.
In the next part of this article, you will come to know about different types of solar eclipses, here we go....

   TYPES OF SOLAR ECLIPSES🌞🌝🌍 

According to NASA, there are three types of solar eclipses while site timeanddate claims of four types of solar eclipse.

Image Courtesy : NASA

Three types of solar eclipses according to NASA are -

1). Total solar eclipse - 🌞🌝🌍

A total solar eclipse is only visible from a small area on Earth. The people who see the total eclipse are in the center of the moon’s shadow when it hits Earth. The sky becomes very dark, as if it were night. For a total eclipse to take place, the sun, moon and Earth must be in a direct line.

2). Partial solar eclipse - 🌞🌝🌍

This happens when the sun, moon and Earth are not exactly lined up. The sun appears to have a dark shadow on only a small part of its surface.

3). Annular solar eclipse - 🌞🌝🌍

An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farthest from Earth. Because the moon is farther away from Earth🌎🌍🌏, it seems smaller. It does not block the entire view of the sun. The moon in front of the sun looks like a dark disk on top of a larger sun-colored disk. This creates what looks like a ring around the moon.

Solar Eclipse and it's Phases

Sone people also connect solar and lunar eclipses with religion and spirituality.It is believed by them that it is a message from universe.Apart from this, for astronomy fans, eclipses are spectacular events and brings joy to astronomy lovers witnessing them.

Some People connect it
with religion & spirituality

There are 4 different types of solar eclipses according to timeanddate.

1). Partial solar eclipses - 🌞🌝🌍

Partial solar eclipses occur when the Moon only partly obscures the Sun's disk and casts only its penumbra on Earth.

2). Annular solar eclipses - 🌞🌝🌍

Take place when the Moon's disk is not big enough to cover the entire disk of the Sun, and the Sun's outer edges remain visible to form a ring of fire in the sky. An annular eclipse of the Sun takes place when the Moon is near apogee, and the Moon's antumbra falls on Earth.

3). Total Solar Eclipses - 🌞🌝🌍

Total solar eclipses happen when the Moon completely covers the Sun, and it can only take place when the Moon is near perigee, the point of the Moon's orbit closest to Earth. You can only see a total solar eclipse if you're in the path where the Moon's casts its darkest shadow, the umbra.

4). Hybrid Solar Eclipses - 🌞🌝🌍

Hybrid Solar Eclipses, also known as annular-total eclipses, are the rarest type. They occur when the same eclipse changes from an annular to a total solar eclipse, and/or vice versa, along the eclipse's path.

During a solar eclipse, the moon casts two shadows on Earth. The first shadow is called the umbra. This shadow gets smaller as it reaches Earth. It is the dark center of the moon’s shadow. The second shadow is called the penumbra. The penumbra gets larger as it reaches Earth. People standing in the penumbra will see a partial eclipse. People standing in the umbra will see a total eclipse.

Solar eclipses happen once every 18 months. Unlike lunar eclipses, solar eclipses only last for a few minutes.

Solar Eclipses Mainly Look Partial :

Solar eclipses are only visible from within the area on Earth where the Moon's shadow falls, and the closer you are to the center of the shadow's path, the bigger the eclipse looks.
Solar eclipses are usually named for their darkest, or maximum, point. The exception is the hybrid eclipse.
The darkest point of solar eclipses is only visible from a small area. In most places and for most of the duration, total, annular, and hybrid eclipses look like a partial solar eclipse.

Total solar eclipse

Only around New Moon :

For a solar eclipse to take place, the Sun, the Moon, and Earth must be aligned in a perfect or near perfect straight line–an alignment astronomers call syzygy.

This happens around New Moon every lunar month.

So, why isn't there a solar eclipse every New Moon night?

There are 2 reasons:

The New Moon has to be near a lunar node. These nodes are 2 points where the plane of the Moon's orbital path around Earth meets Earth's orbital plane around the Sun–the ecliptic. The paths meet because the plane of the Moon's path around Earth is inclined at an angle of approximately 5° to the ecliptic.
The Sun must also be close to a lunar node so it can form a perfect or near-perfect line with the Moon and Earth. This alignment occurs a little less than 6 months apart, and it lasts, on average, around 34.5 days. It is only during this time–the eclipse season–that eclipses can take place.
When there is a Full Moon during the eclipse season, we see a lunar eclipse.
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Today's great Total solar eclipse can be seen in whole America.Everyone in North America, parts of South America, Africa and Europe - including the UK - will see at least a partial solar eclipse, where the moon covers only a part of the sun.
However, 14 states across the United States will experience a total solar eclipse with more than two minutes of darkness descending in the middle of the day over the course of 100 minutes.
More than 12 million Americans live inside the path of totality and more than half of the nation live within 400 miles of it. Millions more are expected to travel to cities along the path to witness the phenomenon.
In Asian countries like India , this solar eclipse will not be seen.

Solar Eclipse will be seen in these places
 on 21 August 2017

Map courtesy : NASA

Great American Eclipse

Map courtesy : GreatAmericanEclipse

Be cautious while watching solar eclipse :

NASA has issued an advisory on watching this event.Here are those important things to remember -

1). Never look directly at the Sun, even through sunglasses or dark material such as a bin liner or photographic negative.

2). Makeshift filters may not screen out the harmful infrared radiation that can burn the retina of the eye risking permanent eye damage and blindness.

3). Viewers must never use binoculars or a telescope.

4). Wear special eclipse viewing glasses - not ordinary sunglasses - or construct a simple pinhole camera which projects an image of the Sun onto a blank piece of paper.

WARNING - Never look directly at the Sun, eclipsed or otherwise, without any protective eyewear. The Sun’s UV radiation can burn the retinas in your eyes leading to permanent damage or even blindness.
The best way to safely watch a total solar eclipse is to wear protective eclipse glasses or to project an image of the eclipsed Sun using a pinhole projector.

Source & Reference : NASA and Timeanddate


                            A Post By Admin.

Author - Swatti Sharrma ß


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