jayde



solar Eclipse.
 What is Solar Eclipse ? An eclipse of the sun occurs when the moon revolving in its orbit around the earth comes between the sun and the earth. The moon blocks the light of the sun and a shadow of the moon is cast over the earth's surface..  How does the moon bock the sun? By a fortunate coincidence, the sun's diameter is 400 times larger than that of the moon, and at the same time, it is 400 times as far away. From where we are, this creates the illusion that they are the same size. If we look through a filter at the sun, it looks exactly like the moon on a full moon night. When the moon passes in front of the sun, the shadow falls on the earth and it appears to exactly cover the sun's disc. This is what a solar eclipse is - a shadow. Is it evil to watch Solar Eclipse ? In essence, an eclipse is no more evil than the shadow of a tree, or a tall building. The moon just blocks off the light of the sun for a brief, beautiful moment. Where can we see this ? During a solar eclipse, the moon actually casts two shadows towards earth. One shadow shaped like a cone is called the umbra. This becomes narrower as it reaches the earth. No direct sunlight penetrates into this area. The path of this is called the path of totality. If you are positioned in this area than you can see a complete blocking of the sun and view a total solar eclipse. Total eclipse is observable only within a narrow strip of land or sea over which the umbra passes. The second shadow is called the penumbra which spreads out as it reaches the earth. The penumbra is spread over a large area. People viewing the eclipse from this area of the earth's surface will see only a partial blocking of the sun.

For example there will be 18 solar eclipses from 1996-2020 for which the eclipse will be total on some part of the Earth's surface. The common perception that eclipses are infrequent is because the observation of a //total eclipse from a given point on the surface of the Earth// is not a common occurrence. For example, it will be two decades before the next total solar eclipse visible in North America occurs. there are all different Types of Solar Eclipses,The preceding figure allows three general classes of solar eclipses (as observed from any particular point on the Earth) to be defined:
 * 1) //Total Solar Eclipses// occur when the umbra of the Moon's shadow touches a region on the surface of the Earth.
 * 2) //Partial Solar Eclipses// occur when the penumbra of the Moon's shadow passes over a region on the Earth's surface.
 * 3) //Annular Solar Eclipses// occur when a region on the Earth's surface is in line with the umbra, but the distances are such that the tip of the umbra does not reach the Earth's surface.

As illustrated in the figure, in a total eclipse the surface of the Sun is completely blocked by the Moon, in a partial eclipse it is only partially blocked, and in an annular eclipse the eclipse is partial, but such that the apparent diameter of the Moon can be seen completely against the (larger) apparent diameter of the Sun. A given solar eclipse may be all three of the above for different observers. For example, in the //path of totality// (the track of the umbra on the Earth's surface) the eclipse will be total, in a band on either side of the path of totality the shadow cast by the penumbra leads to a partial eclipse, and in some eclipses the path of totality extends into a path associated with an annular eclipse because for that part of the path the umbra does not reach the Earth's surface.