eclipse - Multiverse - Solar Week Message Board

Solar Week - Ask a Question

Come here during Solar Week (next one: March 22-26, 2021) to interact. To post a question, click on your area of interest from the topics below, and then click on the "Ask New Question" button. Or EMAIL or tweet or plant in Answer Garden your question about the Sun or life as a scientist to us -- and watch for it to appear here. You can also visit our FAQs (frequently asked questions). In between Solar Weeks in October and March, you can view all the archives here.

Forums
Search Forum
Advanced SearchTopicsPosts

Prev Go to previous topic

Go to next topic

Last Post 3/1/2007 4:12 PM by Isabel Hawkins

eclipse

1 Replies

Sort:


You are not authorized to post a reply.

Author

Messages

Anonymous

Posts:

3/1/2007 8:48 AM
Rachael L (da) How come some solar eclipses are "total", yet ones called annular, the moon looks like a wobble against the sun?

Isabel Hawkins

New Member

Posts:42

3/1/2007 4:12 PM
Dear Rachael, The orbit of the Moon is not a perfect circle, so it is possible to have eclipses when the Moon does not totally cover the Sun's photosphere, and leaves a ring of sunlight around the Moon's disk, called an anular eclipse. This is when the Moon is a little bit closer to the Sun, so its angular diameter is smaller, thus it does not cover the Sun fully. Isabel