A word of warning: Never view the sun directly with the naked eye or with any optical device, such as binoculars or a telescope! This can cause permanent eye damage or blindness. Additionally, there are no pain sensors back there so you won't even know it's happening! There are safe ways to view the sun. |
Solar Eclipse and Big Sun, Small Moon Content Training Video from our partners NISE Network on Vimeo.
The plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted slightly with respect to
the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. These two planes intersect along a
line called the line of nodes. A solar eclipse happens only when both the
Sun and the Moon are on or very near the line of nodes. Hence, a solar eclipse in
not a common event and, in particular, does not occur every month when the Moon is
new. In a sense, a total solar eclipse is the newest possible new Moon!
When the line of nodes (line AB) is not directed towards the Sun, an eclipse is not
possible:
But, when the line of nodes is oriented towards the Sun, an eclipse is possible:
It might be interesting to study a particular Saros cycle. Each eclipse in the cycle
follows 18 years 11.3 days after the last in the cycle. Here is a list of a few of
the eclipses in Saros cycle 136:
(min:sec) |
1 |
1360 Jun 14 |
Partial |
0 |
2 |
1378 Jun 25 |
Partial |
0 |
3 |
1396 Jul 05 |
Partial |
0 |
4 |
1414 Jul 17 |
Partial |
0 |
5 |
1432 Jul 27 |
Partial |
0 |
6 |
1450 Aug 7 |
Partial |
0 |
7 |
1468 Aug 18 |
Partial |
0 |
8 |
1486 Aug 29 |
Partial |
0 |
9 |
1504 Sep 8 |
annular |
0:31 |
10 |
1522 Sep 19 |
annular |
0:23 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
32 |
1919 May 29 |
Total |
6:51 |
33 |
1937 Jun 8 |
Total |
7:04 |
34 |
1955 Jun 20 |
Total |
7:08 |
35 |
1973 Jun 30 |
Total |
7:04 |
36 |
1991 Jul 11 |
total |
6:53 |
37 |
2009 Jul 22 |
total |
6:39 |
38 |
2027 Aug 2 |
total |
6:23 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
69 |
2586 Jul 7 |
Partial |
0 |
70 |
2604 Jul 19 |
Partial |
0 |