The solar eclipse has a simple explanation when you are looking for the scientific findings which have been discoveries on the subject. All you need to know is that the moon comes between the earth and sun for a few seconds when all of the paths are in line. This doesn't happen very often as the sun and moon are never going to be in the same more on a regular occasion. The way in which the earth spins on its axle also determines where the moon is going to be and by what angle the solar eclipse is going to be viewed from. There are many different aspects which all come together to provide us with a solar eclipse and this is why they are very rare and do not happen often, and there are so many different factors which need to be in place for it to happen.
There are many different articles which have been written and books which are going to have more of the information that you may be looking for and this is why it is going to be within your interest to do much research on the subject of the solar eclipse to ensure that you are going to know everything that you need to about the scientific explanations which are in place. All you need to remember is that there are many different factors which all need to happen at the same time to ensure that the solar eclipse is going to happen, and therefore you are going to be able to find many different studies and resources of information that you may be looking for.
You can go into as much or as little detail as you want to with regards to the explanations behind a solar eclipse; it is all going to depend on where you look and what you are going to be looking for.
A Solar Eclipse occurs when the moon gets in the way of the sun as seen from the Earth. It is a special event to see and only visible along a narrow path.
A Solar Eclipse can only happen during the lunar phase known as the New Moon. At the same time the Moon must be crossing the ecliptic. Since the Moon's Orbit is inclined by about five degrees to the ecliptic thus not every New Moon results in a solar eclipse and not every Solar Eclipse is a Total Solar Eclipse.
There is an amazing cosmic coincidence that the Moon is about 400 times closer to the Earth than the Sun. At the same time, the Sun is about 400 times larger than the Moon. What this means is that the angular size of the Sun and Moon as seen from the surface of the Earth is about the same in the sky. When viewed from the surface of Earth, both the moon and sun appear to be about one half degree in angular size – that is, about the size of your thumbnail when you extend your arm.
In astronomical terms, the Sun and Moon have roughly the same angular size. This makes it possible for a solar eclipse to occur. No other planets in our solar system enjoys the same one-to-one ratio between the size of a moon and the Sun.
The result is a very small shadow cast from the Moon onto the Earth. The shadow is in the shape of a cone. When it intersects with the planet Earth it is an oval shape about 100 miles across with a varying major axis size. There are two parts of the shadow, the umbra, the darkest part, and the penumbra, the surrounding ring that is not quite as dark. To see a total solar eclipse you must be inside the umbra. A partial eclipse is seen when you are in the penumbra.
During a Total Solar Eclipse you can see parts of the sun not normally visible to the eye such as the corona and prominences. These items are only visible during the short time between second contact and third contact of a Total Solar Eclipse.
Very little happens for the first one and a quarter hours, while the shadow of the moon slowly moves across the face of the sun, which gradually takes on the shape of a crescent. As the crescent grows very thin, however, dusk begins to fall. Then, suddenly, the sun disappears! The bright-blue sky "vanishes," the temperature drops, darkness descends, the stars appear and the total phase of the eclipse begins. Once again, the moon has blotted out the sun!
Next the corona, the sun's gaseous outer envelope, can be seen as a beautiful white halo about twice the size of the sun and surrounding the dark disk of the moon. For a few seconds at the beginning and end of the total phase, there appears to be a string of tiny beads around the sun. This phenomenon is caused by light shining through the valleys of the moon. While the brilliance of the day sky is decreased enormously, the general appearance of the landscape is similar to that under a full moon. It is not completely dark.
At about the moment of totality, when the moon covers the bright face or photosphere of the sun, there flashes into view for just a few seconds and as an arc around the dark moon, the rosy-red chromosphere or colour sphere of the sun. This is known as the "flash spectrum" and is due to a rarefied envelope of luminous gas lying immediately above the bright surface of the sun. A second flash occurs at the end of totality. Just before and after totality, when a thin crescent of the sun is visible, bands of light and shade appear on the ground and on the walls of buildings. They ripple like waves, moving along perpendicular to their length.
Suddenly, the sun appears again as a thin crescent! Daylight returns as dawn. The crescent of the sun gradually widens until, one and a quarter hours later, the moon leaves the sun's disk. Full daylight thus returns.
All solar eclipses involve the Moon passing between the Earth and the Sun, and casting a shadow on the Earth. The type of eclipse which can be seen from a given location depends on whether the Moon passes directly, or partly, between the Earth and the Sun. It also depends on where on Earth you are standing to observe it.
Total Eclipse- It is when the Sun is completely covered by the Moon. The moon passes between the earth and the sun at a point in its elliptical orbit when it is relatively closer to the Earth. As it does, It casts a shadow. The umbral part of a shadow is the area where the Sun is totally obscured by the Moon. During this period, the moon is closed enough to earth that part of the umbra falls upon earth, within the umbra, see the sun's face completely hidden by the moon.
Partial Eclipse- It is when the moon covers part of the sun. Within the penumbra, the sun is partly covered and its light dimmed, to varying degrees. People within the penumbra and close to the umbra would see the sun almost covered, while people on the edge of the penumbra would see the moon take just a little bite out of the sun
Annular Eclipse- It occurs when the moon covers the center of the sun but not its edges leaving a ring of the sun visible around its origins. The moon is farther away from the earth, and the umbra is too short to reach earth. However, the moon is directly in front of the sun so the parts of the earth underneath it sees a partial eclipse where the center of the sun, rather than a bite at the side is covered. This leaves an annulus of the sun visible round the edges of the moon.
A solar eclipse or eclipse of the sun can only occur during New Moon when the moon passes between the earth and the sun. During this time, the moon totally blocks the earth from the sun thereby causing darkness in the sky for a short period of time.There are four types of solar eclipse:
1. Total Eclipse - when the sun is entirely concealed by the moon.
2. Annular Eclipse - when the sun and moon are exactly aligned to one another.
3. Hybrid Eclipse - is a balance between the total and annular eclipse.
4. Partial Eclipse - when the sun and moon are not entirely aligned to one another and the moon has not completely blocked the sun.
Solar eclipse is not the correct term of the phenomenon. Eclipse is described as when an object passes through a shadow of another object. Hence, the term solar eclipse is not the exact description. It should have been Eclipse of the Earth.
A Solar Eclipse is formed when the orbit of the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned. Causing a the sun to be shadowed by the moon, making the Sun partially or not visabled at all to us on earth.
The moon does not totally block the earth from the sun's light, the moon is nowhere near the size of the earth, but if you are standing in the right location on the earth it will appear that the moon is totally blocking the sun's light.
When the moon comes between the sun and the earth, then the moon hinders the light coming from the sun. So the light can't come to us and we can't see the sun partly or totally.
