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What is aSolar Eclipse?

A solar eclipse occurs when a new

moon passes between Earth and the

Sun. If the moons shadow falls upon

Earths surface at the time, you will

see some portion of the Suns disk

covered, or eclipsed by the moon. A

new moon occurs every 29 days,

but an eclipse only happens when the

moons orbit is tilted 5 degrees to the

Earths orbit around the sun. There

are three types of eclipses: partial,

total, and annular. Usually, the

shadow misses Earth as it passes,

making eclipses rare. Evidence shows

that ancient China and Babylonia

were the first to have records of solar

eclipses.

PENUMBRA AND UMBRA

There are two parts of an eclipse. The

penumbra is the moons faint outershadow. When apartial solar eclipse

occurs, it is only visible from within

the penumbral shadow. The umbra is

the moons dark inner shadow. When

atotal solar eclipse occurs, it is

visible from within the umbral

shadow.

See below for diagram.

The last solar eclipse occurred on

January 15, 2010, and was an

annular eclipse. This was visiblefrom central Africa, the Indian

Ocean, and eastern Asia. A partial

eclipse was seen from eastern

Europe, most of Africa, Asia, and

Indonesia. On July 11, 2010, the

next total solar eclipse will occur.

The umbral shadow will cross the

South Pacific Ocean where it will be

visible from only the Cook Islands,Easter Island, and other isolated

places. A partial eclipse will be

visible in the South Pacific and

southern South America. Also, two

lunar eclipses, a partial and a total,

will occur in 2010.

Past and Future

Path of Totality- The track of the

moons umbral shadow across Earth is calledthe Path of Totality. This is 10,000 miles long,

but only 100 miles wide, and covers less

than 1% of Earths entire surface. In order

to see a total solar eclipse, you must be

somewhere inside the small Path of Totality.

This path can cross any part of the Earth,

but is very rare to see in one single

location. A total solar eclipse is very brief

and only lasts a few minutes, and when it

does, the sky takes on an eerie twilight.

CORONA- The white halo surrounding the

sun during an eclipse is called the solar corona.

Its a super heated plasma that reaches 2

million degrees. This corona can only be seen

a few minutes total solar eclipses.

SOLAR ECLIPSESApril 2010

JULIE KAMEISHA, TESS MERRILL, CLAIRE KING

Three Types- The tree types of eclipses

are partial, total, and annular. A total solar

eclipse occurs when the moon passes

between the sun and the Earth, and the

moon fully covers the sun when it is viewed

from some part on Earth. In a partial total

eclipse, the moon only partially covers the

sun. An annular eclipse occurs when only a

small sliver of light is seen from the suns

disk.

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Picture Sources

http://blog.kidplastik.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/solar-eclipsejpg.jpeg

http://www.ridgenet.net/~n6tst/eclipse/corona1s.jpg

http://michellegregg.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/annular-solar-eclipse.jpg

Information Sources

Espenak, Fred. "NASA - Eclipses During 2010." NASA Eclipse Web Site. FirstGov. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.

Espenak, Fred. "Solar Eclipses for Beginners."MrEclipse. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2010.

Hess, Frances S, et al. "The Sun-Earth-Moon System." Earth Science- Geology, the Environment, and the Universe. Columbus: McGraw

Hill Companies, 2002. 765-67. Print."Solar Eclipses." National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Web. 02 Apr. 2010.

What Is a Solar Eclipse?" HowStuffWorks Science. 1998. Web. 02 Apr. 2010.

http://michellegregg.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/annular-solar-eclipse.jpghttp://michellegregg.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/annular-solar-eclipse.jpghttp://www.ridgenet.net/~n6tst/eclipse/corona1s.jpghttp://www.ridgenet.net/~n6tst/eclipse/corona1s.jpghttp://blog.kidplastik.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/solar-eclipsejpg.jpeghttp://blog.kidplastik.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/solar-eclipsejpg.jpeg