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Mahesh

08/04/24 06:15 AM IST

Total solar eclipse

In News
  • On April 8, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
Solar Eclipse
  • A solar eclipse takes place when the Moon moves in the middle of Earth and the Sun.
  • The Moon blocks the light of the Sun, either fully or partially, which casts a huge shadow on some parts of the world.
  • There are four different types of solar eclipses, including total solar eclipse, annual solar eclipse, partial solar eclipse, and hybrid solar eclipse.
  • When the Moon blocks the Sun entirely, the areas in the centre of the Moon’s shadow at the time witness a total solar eclipse.
  • The sky darkens and people who are in the path of a total solar eclipse can get a glimpse of the Sun’s corona — the outer atmosphere — which is usually not visible due to the bright face of the Sun.
  • When the Moon passes in front of the Sun but is at or near the farthest point from Earth, an annular solar eclipse occurs.
  • In this scenario, the Moon covers the Sun in such a way that only the periphery of the Sun remains visible — looking like a ring of fire.
  • A partial solar eclipse takes place when the Moon blocks just a part of the Sun, giving it a crescent shape.
  • During both partial and annular eclipses, the regions outside the area covered by the Moon’s umbra — the middle and the darkest part of the lunar shadow — will see a partial solar eclipse.
  • Partial solar eclipse is the most common type of solar eclipse.
  • A hybrid solar eclipse — the rarest type of solar eclipse — is witnessed when an eclipse shifts between annular and total as the shadow of the Moon moves across the globe.
  • In this case, some parts of the world see a total solar eclipse, while others observe an annular solar eclipse.
Occurrence of Eclipse
  • A solar eclipse is witnessed only during the new moon — when the Moon and Sun are aligned on the same side of Earth.
  • A new moon occurs about 29.5 days because that is how long it takes the Moon to orbit Earth.
  • This, however, does not mean that a solar eclipse happens every month. It takes place only between two to five times annually. But why?
  • It is because the Moon does not orbit Earth in the same plane as the Earth orbits the Sun.
  • In fact, the Moon is tilted by about five degrees with respect to Earth.
  • As a result, most of the time when the Moon is in between the Sun and Earth, its shadow is either too high or too low to fall on the Earth.
Rare event
  • While there can be between two and five solar eclipses every year, total eclipses only happen about once every 18 months or so.
  • As mentioned before, a particular spot on Earth witnesses a total solar eclipse only once in 400 years.
  • This is because a total eclipse is only visible if one is standing in the umbra — the other part of the shadow is called the penumbra, which is not as dark as the umbra.
  • The umbral shadow is very small, covering only a small part of Earth.
  • In fact, the entire path of the umbral shadow during a solar eclipse will only cover less than one per cent of the globe. This is why only very few people will get to see a total eclipse at a time.
  • Moreover, about 70 per cent of the globe is underwater and half of the land is considered uninhabited.
  • That’s why, it is quite rare when a total solar eclipse happens and a lot of people get to see it.
Source- Indian Express

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