| An eclipse occurs when one object gets in between you and another object and blocks your view. From Earth, we routinely experience two kinds of eclipses: an eclipse of the Moon and an eclipse of the Sun. Eclipses of the Moon | | Sometimes, as the Earth orbits the Sun, it comes between the Sun and the Moon. When this happens, the Earth throws a dark shadow across the Moon. This is known as an eclipse of the Moon, or a lunar eclipse. | Eclipses of the Sun Sometimes, the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. The Moon blocks the light of the Sun and a shadow of the Moon is cast on the Earth's surface. This is an eclipse of the Sun, or a solar eclipse.
| | There are three types of a solar eclipse: total, partial, and annular. During a total eclipse, the Moon completely covers our view of the Sun. A total eclipse is only visible from a narrow strip (about 150 km wide) of the Earth's surface at any one time. From the areas outside this narrow strip, the Sun appears to be only partially covered and a partial eclipse is seen. A partial eclipse will also occur if the Sun, Moon, and Earth are not precisely lined up. The eclipse cannot be total unless the center of the Moon's shadow is able to strike the Earth. The eclipse type that occurs when the Moon is at its farthest distance from the Earth is an annular eclipse. The Moon then appears too small to completely block out the disk of the Sun. |
