Eclipses : A strange phenomena

                 Eclipses : A strange phenomena

                                [A blog on the universe and the cosmos above and the nature of it determined by great scientists.]

Eclipses are not a strange phenomena. Eclipses are just a result of specific positioning of the sun, the moon and the earth at specific angles due which shadow is cast on earth [ solar eclipse ] or the shadow of the earth falls on the moon[ lunar eclipse ]. This is the basic science behind the eclipse phenomena.

•     What are eclipses
  
•     Types of eclipses
•     Lunar eclipse
•     Total and Partial Lunar eclipse
•     Penumbral Lunar eclipse
•     Other moon related phenomenon
  
•     Lunar eclipses in 2020

What are eclipses :

       

                    Eclipses are a basic astronomical phenomena which has been occurring ever since the past. But to elaborate them in short, eclipses are the result of the sun, moon and the earth aligning themselves such that the shadow of a moon is cast on earth or moon is in earth's shadows. This phenomena is called eclipse.

                    Talking about the history of eclipses, they might have been occurring ever since the sun, moon and the earth were formed and took the spherical shape in which they are today. In early stages of man's evolution there were great myths about occurrence of these eclipses. Some of these myths have been decoded in the lower section of this article.

                    Even though there have been many myths in the past about the occurrence of this strange phenomena, today we know the exact science behind this phenomena. We today know that there are 2 main types of eclipses, namely solar and lunar. I have decoded the science behind solar eclipses in this article, so do read it to know how this cycle functions.

                    Another fun hobby while people like to practice while an eclipse occurrence is astrophotography and stargazing. Clicking the pictures of the eclipse and enjoying its view i the best part of this hobby. I have written a complete guide to stargazing and astrophotography which breaks down all the steps, tips and tricks for you even if you are a beginner or someone who knows a bit about it. Another part of the article will break down the types of telescope you would need for stargazing or astrophotography. So do check both of the articles

Types of eclipses :

                   As considered far and wide, there are two main types of eclipses that we observe from the earth. They are divided into solar and lunar eclipses. The name has to do with the celestial body which causes the eclipse. In solar eclipses, moon's shadow falls on earth while in a lunar eclipse, the moon enters the earth's shadow when the 3 celestial bodies are aligned at an angle of 180 degree. I have written about solar eclipses much in depth in this post.

                   

   lunar eclipse. Credit : Wikipedia                                              solar eclipse

                 

                    Considering lunar eclipses,  there are mainly 3 types of lunar eclipses. Those are Total lunar eclipse, Partial lunar eclipse and Penumbral lunar eclipse. There are also other moon events like pink moon, super moon, micro moon which are often confused with lunar eclipses while that is not the reality. These kinds of wrong beliefs or myths are decoded in the later part of this article.

                  

Lunar eclipses :

                    Lunar eclipses occur when the moon enters earth's shadow while orbiting it. Lunar eclipses occur quite frequently and are visible to a vast spread of population across the earth. Lunar eclipses only occur when the sun , the earth and the moon are all aligned , in a straight line , i.e : aligned at an angle of perfect 180 degrees. Because of this the moon while revolving around the earth enters its shadow and then if all of theses 3 celestial bodies are aligned then an Lunar Eclipse occurs.

                 Now as we know that the moon travels into the shadow of the earth once in every month , and this is the phase of moon which we identify to be full moon. On full moon days, the whole moon disc is visible to us. Even though this is true but every single time moon passes behind the earth , it is not perfectly aligned which prevents eclipses from taking place once in every month. The mere reason behind why the moon is not always perfectly aligned is its orbit [ the specific path on which the moon revolves around the earth ]. The moon's orbit is not perfectly circular in shape, it is slightly curved and this shape is called as an elliptical orbit.

Total & partial lunar eclipses :

                    Total Lunar eclipse and Partial Lunar eclipse the 2 most commonly talked about types of lunar eclipses. A Total Lunar eclipse is only possible when the sun, the Earth and the moon are positioned in this very sequence and are perfectly aligned at 180 degrees. When the above circumstances hold true, a lunar eclipse is sure to happen.

                    But, however the moon's orbit decides if the eclipse id partial or total. When these 3 celestial bodies are perfectly aligned, a shadow of earth is casted into the empty space. This shadow has two parts namely umbra and penumbra. The umbra region of the shadow is basically the darker portion of the shadow while the penumbra region is the lighter region of the shadow.

                    If the moon completely passes through the umbra region then it is said to be a Total lunar eclipse, while if the moon does not completely pass through the umbra but a portion of it does, then it is called a partial lunar eclipse. Of the lunar eclipses that occur in a year, generally many of them are partial lunar eclipses. The reason is that the umbra region is the dark portion of the shadow but it extends upto a very short distance, while on the other hand the penumbral region is light but extends for a much longer distance. Thus the probability of the moon completely passing through the umbra is pretty less than of it passing partially through it.         

  [ Glimpse of a total,partial and penumbral lunar eclipse ]

Penumbral Lunar eclipse 

                    Penumbral Lunar eclipse is the third type of  Lunar eclipse that occurs. These eclipses are often confused with Partial Lunar eclipse as both of them are pretty similar. An interesting thing about these eclipses is that there is not much prominent change in the moon's disc and hence you may not even  notice the eclipse.

                    As the name suggests, this type of eclipse occurs when the sun, the earth and the moon are sequenced in this order and the moon only passes through the penumbra region of the earth's shadow. Due to this, the eclipse gets its name as ' Penumbral ' Lunar eclipse. As the moon completely passes through the lighter part of the shadow, there is not much considerable change in the look of the moon's disc.

                   The only difference between Penumbral Lunar eclipse and Partial Lunar eclipse is that in one the moon completely passes through the penumbra region of the earth's shadow while in other, only some of the moon's disc passes through the penumbral region of the shadow.

Other Moon related phenomenon : 

                   One of the biggest confusion many people have is that Super moon is a kind of eclipse. While this is a myth it is not a phenomena which doesn't occur. Super moons are not any kind of eclipses, super moon occurs when the moon is the closest to the earth. As the moon's orbital path around the earth more like a oval, there is a point when the moon is the closest to the earth while there are also other days when the moon is the farthest from the earth.

                   When the moon is closest to the earth, it seems like the moon is a lot more bigger and also more bright. This is called super moon. While on the other hand, when the moon is the farthest from the earth, it seems like the moon is very small and dim. This phenomena is called as micro moon. However, none of these phenomenon is a eclipse.

     

                    Strawberry moon and blue moon are also other moon related phenomenon but are not any kind of eclipse. The strawberry moon is the first and the last full moon of June and spring season respectively is called strawberry moon. This name comes from ancient times as the ancient tribes used to identify this period for strawberry harvesting. On the other hand, the blue moon is when it is a extra full moon that occurs in any subdivision of the year As this is a very rare phenomena, it is called a blue moon.

Lunar eclipses in 2020 :

S.R	Date	Type of Lunar Eclipse	From where can you see it
1.	10th and 11th January, 2020	Penumbral	The whole of Asia, Africa and Australia. Northern parts of North America and few parts of Canada
2.	5th and 6th June, 2020	Penumbral	The whole of Australia, Africa, Antarctica and the parts of Asia except northern Russia
3.	4th and 5th July, 2020	Penumbral	The whole of South America and Antarctica. Major portion of North America and Africa as well.
4.	29th and 30th November 2020	Penumbral	The whole of North and South America and Australia. The eastern and mid portion of Asia.

                                                

                      

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