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Last Post 3/19/2008 5:19 PM by Peter Harvey

solar eclipse

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3/19/2008 12:31 PM
Erin (LM) How come during a total solar eclipse, when we see a black disk the (moon), and the sun's outer atmosphere around it, why don't we see any portion of the moon's surface from earthshine?

Peter Harvey

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3/19/2008 5:19 PM
Erin - That's a very interesting question. During the eclipse, the corona is still rather bright. The earth reflects about 30% (called its albedo) and then the moon probably reflects about 30% as well. So one might expect that 10% of the light to reflect back, except that the light would be spread over the entire lunar surface. That would make it difficult to see with the corona so much brighter. - Peter