Solar Eclipse Shadow On Earth

Pictures of the annular solar eclipse made it to the social media platforms where we could see the partial solar eclipse as well as the maximum eclipse showing a ring of fire.

Solar eclipse shadow on earth. The moon s shadow on earth isn t very big so only a small portion of places on earth will see it. The term eclipse is most often used to describe either a solar eclipse when the moon s shadow crosses the earth s surface or a lunar eclipse when the moon moves into the earth s shadow. A nasa astronaut and several weather satellites spotted the shadow of the moon passing over earth during an annular solar eclipse on june 21 2020. The shadow of the moon is cast over portions of malaysia and the philippines during today s solar eclipse.

As both the moon and the earth are in constant motion the umbra moves across the face of the earth during the eclipse so the total phase can usually only be seen along a slim eclipse path. Twitter chris cassidy the first solar eclipse of the year 2020 just concluded. Mit lincoln laboratory staff camped i. During some eclipses the sun the moon and the earth do not form a perfectly straight line so only the penumbra falls on the earth s surface while the umbra the shadow s dark center is cast into space.

Such alignment coincides with a new moon indicating the moon is closest to the ecliptic plane in a total eclipse the disk of the sun is fully obscured by the moon. However it can also refer to such events beyond the earth moon system. A solar eclipse occurs when a portion of the earth is engulfed in a shadow cast by the moon which fully or partially blocks sunlight. Earth during june 21 solar eclipse.

For example the total solar eclipse on april 8 2024 will only be visible along a narrow belt stretching across the united states mexico and canada. This occurs when the sun moon and earth are aligned. Image courtesy of romeo durscher. Getting a chance to see a total solar eclipse is rare.

This total solar eclipse was visible from the northern tip of australia on november 13 2012. But not everyone experiences every solar eclipse. For example a planet moving into the shadow cast by one of its moons a moon. The moon s umbral shadow during the total solar eclipse on december 14 2020 will race across the same two countries chile and argentina as it did during the eclipse of july 2 2019.

When the eclipse looked so magnificent from the earth imagine what it would have looked.