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by game masta on March 28th, 2006

game masta

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What is the difference between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse?

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Answers. 11 helpful answers below.

  • by BACzero on December 22nd, 2010

    BACzero

    Lunar eclipse - Earth blocks the sun and casts its shadow on the moon
    Solar eclipse - Moon comes between the earth and sun and blocks out the sun.

    Interestingly, the ratio of the size of the sun to the size of the moon is equal to the ratio of the distance between us and the moon and the distance between us and the sun. This means that even thought the sun and the moon are very different in size, when they line up, they appear the same size in the sky, which allows the moon to almost perfectly block out the sun in a full solar eclipse. =D

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  • by LarryH54 on December 22nd, 2010

    LarryH54

    With a solar eclipse, the moon gets between us and the sun.
    With a lunar eclipse, the earth gets between the moon and the sun.

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  • by jalex137 on March 30th, 2006

    jalex137

    A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. Since the Moon and Sun appear to be the same size in the sky, the Moon can completely block the Sun if the relative positions of the Moon and the viewer are just right. Even though any place on Earth is subject to seeing an eclipse at one time or another, the area of the Earth which will perceive any particular eclipse as total is relatively small. The rest of the Earth will either see it as a partial eclipse, or will miss it altogether.

    A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon. Since the Earth's shadow is larger than the Moon, the Moon can be completely blacked out. Actually, a total lunar eclipse rarely blacks out the Moon completely. Light refracted through the Earth's atmosphere into the shadow area will usually give it a strange dark red glow. The other difference from a solar eclipse is that every place on Earth that can see the Moon at the time of the eclipse will see more or less the same thing.

    Obviously, a solar rclipse will occur at the time of a New Moon, and a lunar eclipse at the time of a Full Moon.

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  • by Anonymous on July 20th, 2009

    Anonymous

    is there anything that a pregnant woman has to worry about during a lunar or solar eclipse?

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  • by philosopher-saint on July 20th, 2009

    philosopher-saint

    Different orbs?
    ;-)

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  • by billy patel on July 27th, 2008

    billy patel

    thanks

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  • by knowwereman222 on December 22nd, 2010

    knowwereman222

    Yep big difference one is during the day the other is at night

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  • by Twisted Taco on March 1st, 2010

    Twisted Taco

    Hmmm...I dunno...

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  • by Twisted Taco on December 22nd, 2010

    Twisted Taco

    Except for the sun and moon thing, I guess not much.



    WTF? They keep getting supider and stupider.

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  • by Japan on March 1st, 2010

    Japan

    Solar means day
    Lunar means night
    Solar happens during the day
    Lunar happens at night

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  • by iwnit on December 22nd, 2010

    iwnit

    "An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when a celestial object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. An eclipse is a type of syzygy.
    The term eclipse is most often used to describe either a solar eclipse, when the Moon's shadow crosses the Earth's surface, or a lunar eclipse, when the Moon moves into the shadow of Earth. However, it can also refer to such events beyond the Earth-Moon system: for example, a planet moving into the shadow cast by one of its moons, a moon passing into the shadow cast by its host planet, or a moon passing into the shadow of another moon. A binary star system can also produce eclipses if the plane of their orbit intersects the position of the observer. "
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse

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