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Image source, Getty Images
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The word eclipse (eclipse) comes from an ancient Greek term meaning “to disappear” but also means “to be abandoned.”
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Eclipses can be spectacular astronomical events. There is good reason that all branches of tourism have sprung up to serve those who wish to see it.
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The next eclipse will occur on May 26, 2021 – a total lunar eclipse that will be visible from east Asia, Australia, across the Pacific and America.
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But this is just one of several types of eclipse.
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“In general, there are two types of eclipses: a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse,” wrote Juan Carlos Beamín, an astrophysicist at the Center for Science Communication at the Autonomous University of Chile, in his book “Illustrated Astronomy”.
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But then he noted: “There is technically a third type which includes two stars.”
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The following is a description of the three different types and their variants:
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SOLAR ECLIPSE
Sometimes, when the Moon orbits Earth, it moves between the Sun and our planet, blocking light from the stars and causing a solar eclipse.
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In other words, the Moon casts its shadow onto the Earth’s surface.
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But there are three types of solar eclipses, and they differ from each other in how – and how much – the Moon covers the Sun.
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Total solar eclipse
A total solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned in such a way that it completely blocks sunlight.
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For a few seconds (or sometimes even a few minutes), the sky grew very dark as if it were nighttime.
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According to NASA, “a total solar eclipse is only possible on Earth due to space-related coincidences”: The sun is 400 times wider than the Moon, but also 400 times farther away.
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“That geometry means that when perfectly aligned, the Moon blocks the entire surface of the Sun, creating a total solar eclipse,” NASA added.
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Image source, NASA
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A total solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned in such a way that it completely blocks sunlight.
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The line tracing the Moon’s shadow on the earth’s surface is called the “path of totality” and it is in this small area that this spectacle of total darkness appears.
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On both sides of this path, over a span of thousands of kilometers, a partial eclipse can be seen.
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The further away you are from the plane of totality, the smaller the portion of the Sun will be covered by the Moon.
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As for the duration, it will depend on “the position of the Earth to the Sun, the Moon to Earth and which part of the Earth is experiencing darkness,” Beamin wrote.
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Theoretically, the longest solar eclipse could last seven minutes 32 seconds, added the Chilean astrophysicist.
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Regarding frequency, they are not as frequent as you might think: there are one every 18 months.
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What’s really rare is that a total solar eclipse is seen again from the same place, occurring on average every 375 years.
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There will be a total solar eclipse this year on December 4, but you need to be in Antarctica to see the full effect.
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Ring Eclipse (Annular Eclipse)
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Image source, Getty
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In an annular eclipse (meaning round or circular in Latin), the Moon does not completely cover the Sun, but leaves a halo, as shown in the photo.
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When the Moon is farther from Earth and appears “smaller”, it doesn’t completely cover the Sun’s surface.
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So, when the Sun is partially covered by the moon, a ring-like shape is seen around the Moon, and the event is called an annular solar eclipse.
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As with a total solar eclipse, during this phenomenon there is an “annularity path” in which the eclipse appears as a circle.
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On each side of this path, in turn, there are zones of alignments (zone of partiality).
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On June 10, 2021, the annular eclipse will be visible at northernmost latitudes: parts of Canada, Greenland and Russia will see the full effect, but much of Europe, Central Asia and China will see partial eclipses.
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According to NASA, these eclipses are usually the longest, because the rings can be visible for longer than ten minutes, but generally no longer than five or six minutes.
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Hybrid Solar Eclipse (Hybrid eclipse)
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Image source, Getty Images
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In November 2013, there was a strange hybrid eclipse seen in the photo, which was captured in Kenya.
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Beamín explains that a hybrid eclipse is a phenomenon that occurs “when the Moon is at the right distance where it can completely cover the Sun, but, as it progresses, it moves slightly away from Earth and stops covering the Sun, turning into a ring eclipse.”
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“It can also start as an annular eclipse (annular eclipse) and then got a little closer to a total eclipse (total eclipse), “added Beamín.
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Hybrid eclipses are quite rare (accounting for about 4% of all solar eclipses), according to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC).
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NASA data shows the last one occurred in 2013, and we will have to wait until April 20, 2023 to see the next one, which will be visible from Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
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MOON ECLIPSE
Image source, AFP
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The photo above shows the various phases of the lunar eclipse in 2010.
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A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, blocking light.
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In other words, during a lunar eclipse, what we see is the Earth’s shadow appearing on the surface of the Moon.
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As explained in the explanatory guide material from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), “the visibility of a solar eclipse depends on the geographic location of the observer.
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“With a lunar eclipse, the opposite happens: the phenomenon is observed from anywhere on our planet where the Moon is above the horizon at the time of the eclipse.”
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The manual also says that “unlike a solar eclipse, where the schedule of the eclipse phase depends on the geographic position of the observer, this lunar eclipse will be the same regardless of the place of observation”.
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There are three types of lunar eclipses.
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Total lunar eclipse
During a total lunar eclipse, NASA explained, the Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of Earth.
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“Even though the Moon is under the Earth’s shadow – NASA added – some sunlight reaches the Moon.”
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This sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere, which filters out most of the blue light – which is why, during this phenomenon, the Moon looks red and is sometimes nicknamed the “Blood Moon”.
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Image source, NASA
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During a total lunar eclipse, sunlight is filtered by the earth’s atmosphere and the moon is orange.
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According to the IAC, “because the diameter of our planet is four times the diameter of the moon, its shadow is also much wider, so the totality of a lunar eclipse can last up to 104 minutes.”
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And that’s exactly what we can see on May 26, 2021.
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If you happen to be in western South America, Southeast Asia, Australia, or the western part of the US – and are lucky to enjoy it when the sky is clear – you will be in a position to see this “Super Flower Full Moon” literally eclipse for about 14 minutes. .
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Partial lunar eclipse
As the name implies, a partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a part of the Moon enters the earth’s shadow.
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Depending on the magnitude of the eclipse, the shadow is dark red (dark red) – but sometimes also rusty or charcoal gray (charcoal grey) – can appear on the dark surface area of the moon.
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This occurs due to the contrast between the shaded areas (the shaded area) and the bright moon’s surface is unaffected by shadows.
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According to NASA, although total lunar eclipses are a rare phenomenon, some occur at least twice a year.
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The next partial lunar eclipse is expected November 18-19, and will be visible in North and South America, Australia, and parts of Europe and Asia.
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Image source, Getty Images
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In a lunar eclipse, the Earth is between the Moon and the Sun, so that the Moon enters one of the shadow areas.
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Penumbra lunar eclipse (Penumbral lunar eclipse)
This eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through Earth’s penumbra shadow, which is a much fainter shadow.
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Because of this, these eclipses are so subtle that their perception in the human eye depends on the part of the moon entering the penumbra region: the smaller it is, the harder it is to observe.
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For this reason, these eclipses are often not even mentioned in calendars intended for anyone other than scientists.
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GERHANA BINTANG (STELLAR ECLIPSES)
Not all eclipses involve our Sun and Moon: distant stars can also eclipse.
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“50% of stars are in two or more star systems,” explains Beamín in his book “Illustrated Astronomy”, which is available free online.
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“Because there are so many stars in our galaxy, some of them binary [sistem bintang yang terdiri dari dua bintang yang mengitari pusat massa yang sama] orbiting in a plane very parallel to Earth, so at certain parts of its orbit, one star passes in front of another, obscuring it, “he added.
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“This double star is called a binary star eclipse (eclipsing binary stars).”
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