Eclipse Ghagga Samana

2

Eclipse

Eclipse: A natural example of shadows associated with the Sun and the Moon is called Eclipse. We have two types of Eclipse: 1). Solar Eclipse or Eclipse of the sun 2). Lunar Eclipse or Eclipse of the moon The Solar Eclipse:- A Solar Eclipse occurs whenever the sun, the moon and the earth are in a straight line with the moon between the sun and the earth .This happens on a new moon day .The earth is much larger than the moon. It cannot therefore be covered completely by the umbra cone of the shadow of the moon. However some parts of the earth will come within this umbra cone. For people living there the light of the sun will be completely cut off until the umbra of the moons shadow has passed over them. The Eclipse here will be a total eclipse. Other parts of the earth will come within the penumbra cone of the moon’s shadow People will receive light only from a part of the sun and will, therefore experience only a partial eclipse of the sun.

We have seen above that when the source is bigger in size than the obstacle the umbra region of the shadow can get reduced to just a point. Now the moon’s orbit round the earth is elliptical rather than the circular in nature and there can be situations when the moons distance from the earth is such that, on its coming between the sun and the earth, the earth may be just at the apex of the umbra region of the moons shadow .If the apex of the umbra cone does not touch the earth, we will not get total eclipse from any point on the earth.

However, when seen from the region just below the apex, the sun will appear as an annular ring. We then say that people living in this region of the earth, will witness an annual solar eclipse. For them the moon completely blocks the view of the sun but they are able to view the outer rim-known as the Corona of the sun. They may also be able to observe a breath taking spectacular bright ring known as Diamond ring for a very short time .Such a spectacular view comes very rarely and one should not miss it when it comes around proper and stringent precautions are, however, a must. The Lunar Eclipse:- The Eclipse of the moon, or the lunar eclipse, occurs when the sun, the earth and the moon a are in a straight line with the earth situated between the sun and the moon. The moon, as we know, is by itself, a non luminous body. If, therefore, it comes completely within the umbra of the earths shadow, it becomes dark because no light of the sun is falling on it .We then have a complete lunar eclipse. Sometimes, we also have a partial

lunar eclipse. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the moon lies only partly within the umbra of the shadow of the earth. Thus with a part of the moon within the umbra we have only a partial lunar eclipse. When the moon is wholly within the umbra the lunar eclipse is complete. A lunar eclipse takes place only on a full moon night. We can understand this by noting that for a lunar eclipse to take place, the sun and the moon must be on the opposite sides of the earth. This happens only during a full moon.

Submitted by: (7th class) Inderjeet kaur Lovepreet Singh

under the guidance of: MRS.MINTOO (MATHS) MRS.KARAMJEET KAUR