Solar Eclipses

Solar eclipses are astronomical events that cannot be ignored. As the moon passes in front of the sun, day rapidly turns into night. The effect is so great that the temperature actually drops a few degrees. Scientifically, solar eclipses happen when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, which casts the moon's shadow onto the Earth. This happens at least twice a year, and at most five. This doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to see a solar eclipse, however. Solar eclipses happen during the day, it may be night time at your part of the Earth. Also, unlike lunar eclipses, solar eclipses cannot be seen from just anywhere on the earth. The moon's shadow doesn't cover an entire side of the earth, just a small fraction. This illustration shows what happens to the earth during a solar eclipses. As you can see, the moon's shadow isn't big enough to cover the entire day time side of the earth. If a solar eclipse does pass over head, totality, or when the moon is completely blocking the sun, should last up to seven minutes at the equator, and less farther north or south. During totality, the surface of the sun cannot be seen. The corona, a glowing halo of plasma around the sun, is visible, though. Normally the corona is blocked by the glare of the sun, but not during totality. Below is a picture of the corona during a solar eclipse. Because the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, the moon is sometimes too far from the Earth to provide a total solar eclipse. When this happens, an annular eclipse occurs. During annular eclipses, parts of the sun can still be seen around the moon. The light levels outside will still drop but the corona will not be visible behind the glare. Whether or not the sun is completely or just partially eclipsed, solar eclipses are still interesting events. One must be careful, though, because even during an eclipse, the visible part of the sun will still be too bright for the naked eye and should not be directly looked at.

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