All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Some of the information presented on this web site is based on data originally published in:. Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:. Candey Email: Robert. Candey nasa. A solar eclipse can only happen during a New Moon. The Moon's orbit is titled 5 degrees to Earth's orbit around the Sun.
Therefore a solar eclipse is a relatively rare phenomena and a Total or Annular eclipse even more rare, with the Hybrid eclipse the rarest of all. To understand the difference between a Total and Annular eclipse of the Sun, it must be understood that the Moon has an elliptical orbit around Earth. In fact, the Moon's distance from Earth varies from a minimum of , to a maximum of , miles. When the Moon's orbit is toward its minimum distance from Earth, the Moon will appear visually as a larger disk than the Sun.
If an eclipse occurs during this time, it will be a Total solar eclipse because the Moon has totally obscured the Sun's disk, producing the beautiful solar corona ejecting outward from the Sun.
One important element to remember though is that the Moon's shadow will obviously become narrower as it is cast from the Moon to Earth in a shape of a cone with the wide end being at the Moon and the narrow end on Earth. Therefore the path of totality on Earth is narrow. It is also very short-lived as the Moon is moving quickly away from its perfect location of being situated between the Sun and Earth.
An Annular solar eclipse is different than Totality in that it occurs when the Moon is closer to its maximum distance from Earth in its orbit. If an eclipse happens during this situation, the Moon will appear visually smaller than the Sun and its shadow cast will not be long enough to reach Earth. What reaches Earth is the antumbral or "negative" shadow. If you are within the antumbral shadow, you will see a solar eclipse where a thin ring or annulus of bright sunlight surrounds the Moon.
Therefore Annular solar eclipses are still spectacular in that they are almost Total, but the solar corona is not seen due to the brightness of the annulus. Like a Total eclipse, the Annular solar eclipse will have a narrow path on Earth with short duration, most often less than 10 minutes.
A Hybrid eclipse is especially rare in that an Annular eclipse can change to a Total eclipse, or vice versa, along the eclipse path. Due to Earth's curvature, Earth may move through the Antumbral shadow Annular eclipse and Umbral shadow Total eclipse along different points of the eclipse path. DO NOT observe a solar eclipse with the naked eye. Serious eye damage can result. Use approved solar filters or cut a pin hole in a shoe box and watch the Sun's light cast through the pin hole onto a smooth surface such as cardboard.
If you were standing on the moon, looking back at the sun, you'd see the black disk of Earth blocking the entire sun, but you'd also see a ring of reflected light glowing around the edges of Earth — that's the light that falls on the moon during a total lunar eclipse. Partial lunar eclipse : Some eclipses are only partial. But even a total lunar eclipse goes through a partial phase on either side of totality. During the partial phase, the sun, Earth and moon are not quite perfectly aligned, and Earth's shadow appears to take a bite out of the moon.
Penumbral lunar eclipse : This is the least interesting type of eclipse, because the moon is in Earth's faint outer penumbral shadow. Unless you're a seasoned skywatcher, you likely won't notice the effect, in which the moon is subtly shaded by Earth's shadow. The moon may turn red or coppery colored during the total portion of an eclipse. The red moon is possible because while the moon is in total shadow, some light from the sun passes through Earth's atmosphere and is bent toward the moon.
While other colors in the spectrum are blocked and scattered by Earth's atmosphere, red light tends to make it through easier. The effect is to cast all the planet's sunrises and sunsets on the moon.
Christopher Columbus leveraged a blood-red eclipse in to frighten natives on Jamaica into feeding him and his crew. It was on Columbus' fourth and final voyage to the New World. An epidemic of shipworms ate holes in the ships of his fleet; Columbus' was forced to abandon two ships. He then beached his last two on Jamaica on June 25, The natives welcomed the castaways and fed them.
But after six months, Columbus' crew mutinied, and robbed and murdered some of the Jamaicans, who had grown weary of feeding the crew. Columbus had an almanac that foretold a lunar eclipse on Feb. He met the local chief, and told him the Christian god was angry with his people for no longer supplying food.
During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon usually turns a deep, dark red because it is illuminated by light that has passed through the Earth's atmosphere and has been bent back towards the Moon by refraction. During the partial phase of the eclipse, part of the Moon travels through the Earth's full 'umbral' shadow. However, on this occasion only a very small section of the Moon will be covered by the umbra at maximum eclipse, though the whole northern half of the Moon will be darkened by the penumbral shadow.
Find out more. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon travels only through the outer, fainter part of the Earth's shadow, or 'penumbra'. This happens when the Earth moves between the Sun and Moon but the three do not form a perfectly straight line.
The penumbra causes only a slight darkening of the Moon's surface, with the Moon still exposed to some direct sunlight, so this type of eclipse is easy to miss.
A partial lunar eclipse, barely visible in the UK, will next take place on 19 November However, there will be a longer wait for the next total lunar eclipse. People in the UK will not be able to see every part of the eclipse but will still be able to see the lunar eclipse at totality when the entire Moon turns red. The entire eclipse lasts for more than five hours, ending at 7. However, observers in the UK will only be able to see the eclipse from 2. The optimal viewing time to see the eclipse is between 4.
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