What is the difference between a lunar and a solar eclipse?
From our perspective on Earth, two types of eclipses occur: lunar, the blocking of the Moon by Earth’s shadow, and solar, the obstruction of the Sun by the Moon. When the Moon passes between Sun and Earth, the lunar shadow is seen as a solar eclipse on Earth. When Earth passes directly between Sun and Moon, its shadow creates a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses can only happen when the Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky, a monthly occurrence we know as a full Moon. But lunar eclipses do not occur every month because the Moon’s orbit is tilted five degrees from Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Without the tilt, lunar eclipses would occur every month. Lunar and solar eclipses occur with about equal frequency. Lunar eclipses are more widely visible because Earth casts a much larger shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse than the Moon casts on Earth during a solar eclipse. As a result, you are more likely to see a lunar eclipse than a solar eclipse.
We need the sun, earth and moon to create both a solar and a lunar eclipse. The difference between them depe.nds upon the positions of these heavenly bodies. They must be in a straight line and the sun, of course, is always in the same direction way off at the center of the solar system. However, sometimes the moon is becween the earth and the sun, and sometimes the earth is between the moon and the sun. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between us and the sun. The new moon is on the sunward side of its orbit from us. And for a while its dark disk blots out the blazing sun in a solar eclipse. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth passes directly between the sun and the full moon. The earth’s long, tapering shadow creeps over the moon which causes its golden sunshine to disappear.
