The Mysteries of Eclipses
The Mysteries of Eclipses
By: Arielle Reissman and Violet Marchica
Let's blast off into outer space facts about the Mysteries of Eclipses. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1! Bshhhhhh. For starters, what is an eclipse? An eclipse is when the Moon goes in between the sun and the earth and everything on Earth goes dark! But the weird thing is that it only lasts for a few seconds. Think of it as if the whole world is going to sleep but only for a few seconds, and then wakes up again. Did you know, there is more than one type of eclipse? There is an eclipse called a lunar eclipse, in case you don't know what that is, it's just like a normal eclipse on Earth, it just happens on the Moon. Instead of the Earth going dark, the Moon goes dark or maybe goes red. But just like the Earth it only lasts for a few seconds. Just because it's a different environment on the Moon, that doesn't mean the eclipse lasts longer or looks different. An eclipse looks like an explosion in space, but unlike an explosion, it’s silent and sudden. See it this way, it’s as silent as , and as sudden as lightning. It’s impossible to tell if it’s coming! If you were wondering where these weird and amazing instances of wonder happen. At first, before you read this article you may have been thinking, where does an eclipse happen? Well, it happens in space, it's just the moon's shadow reflecting on the Earth. Are you wondering why we don’t have eclipses a couple times a year? Well, That's because the Moon orbits Earth at a tilt and every once and a while it lines up precisely. If the Moon is at a tilt, there's still sunlight shining through. So it’s not an eclipse. But if the Moon lines up precisely in between the Sun and the Earth, and there is no sunlight shining through, then it is an eclipse. Actually,there are more than two types of eclipses. There is an eclipse called a partition eclipse when only a little sliver of the Moon is on the light side of the Earth. If a part of our Moon enters partially in the darkest part of Earth, it’s called a partial Lunar eclipse. Now it’s time to go back to Earth. Think about all the facts we taught you. What is an Eclipse? And What are the different types of eclipses?
