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Last Post 10/28/2014 6:29 AM by  Sarah Gibson
eclipses
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10/27/2014 4:11 PM

    laney g (ex)

    Are you able to calculate or predict solar eclipses on other planets in our solar system?


    Sarah Gibson



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    10/28/2014 6:29 AM
    HI Laney -- yes! Eclipses happen when a planet and a moon line up so that the sun is blocked by one for the other. Thus, when the moon is in front of the sun from our point of view on Earth, we see an eclipse. When the earth is in front of the sun from the point of view of someone standing on the moon, they would see an eclipse (and a nice long one, since the earth is so much bigger than the moon!) -- for us on the earth, this is what we see as a lunar eclipse as our shadow falls upon the moon. Other planets also have eclipses - if they have moons. So, Mercury and Venus don't, but the others can. Mars has little moons, so although there can be eclipses they are not total eclipses since the moons can't completely block the sun. If you were standing on one of those martian moons, though, you would see frequent eclipses as Mars itself moves in front of the Sun. The bigger gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) have bigger moons and the sun is further away, so they do have total eclipses. Since we know the various orbits of these planets around the sun and their moons around the planets, we can calculate exactly when and where such eclipses are visible. cheers Sarah
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