Differentiate Between Lunar Eclipse And Solar Eclipse.

A lunar eclipse occur when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in straight line with earth between the Sun and the Moon. Lunar eclipse always occurs on a full Moon night. When the earth shadow covers the moon completely, we have a total lunar eclipse. If it covers the moon only partially we have particular lunar eclipse. The eclipse lasts only as long as the Moon is in the shadow of the earth. Once it moves out of the shadow, it shines brightly once again. The eclipse may be as short as a few minutes or as long as few hours.

A solar eclipse takes place when the sun, the moon and the earth are in straight line with the moon between the sun and earth. It shows that a solar eclipse always occurs on a new moon day. The shadow of the moon falls on a portion of earth. Therefore the people on this part of earth cannot see the sun at all. We have a total solar eclipse in these parts. In some parts of earth, only part of sun can be seen. At these places we can see partial solar eclipse.

The eclipse is over once the moon moves out of the line from sun to the earth. We can see the full face of the sun again.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth comes between the Sun and the moon, casting its shadow on the moon. This has the effect of making the moon appear copper coloured.

A solar eclipse is rarer and occurs when the moon comes between the Earth and the Sun. As the Sun and the Moon appear the same size when viewed from Earth, at the point of 'totality' the moon's disc completely obscures that of the sun, with just the sun's corona visible. Totality only lasts for a few minutes however, whereas a lunar eclipse lasts for several hours because the Earth is so much larger than the moon.