Thursday, May 31, 2012

Solar and Lunar Eclipse


What are the Differences between Solar and Lunar Eclipse?
By: Henry Lam
            There was a solar eclipse on May 20. It was the first annular eclipse in 18 years. It was visible in eastern Asia and Northern Pacific. You may wonder what the difference between solar and lunar eclipse are. Well, they are sort of similar. A solar eclipse can only occur at new moon and lunar eclipse occurs only at full moon. Solar eclipses last for about 7 minutes 40 seconds and lunar eclipses last for about 1 hour 40 minutes. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon.  A solar eclipse happens when the shadow of the Moon is cast on the Earth and a lunar eclipse happens when the shadow of the Earth is cast on the Moon. 

No comments:

Post a Comment