What is an eclipse?
A solar eclipse is one of the strange cosmic astronomical phenomena that occurs when the moon blocks the light of the sun completely or partially when it passes between the sun and planet Earth, meaning that the earth, the sun and the moon are on the same line. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is in the “new phase” that allows it to cast its shadow on the planet Earth, and although the moon passes through all its phases, including the “new moon” and “full moon” in every lunar month, it does not occur due to a lack of convergence The three astronomical bodies the Earth, the Sun and the Moon on one line.
During the revolution of the moon around the earth, its orbit intersects in two specific places with the ecliptic plane, and each of the two regions is called (the ascending node) and (the descending node). And the eclipse happens. It is worth noting that the eclipse is prolonged when it is very close to the planet Earth, which is the last in the farthest distance from the sun.
Types of solar eclipse
Total Solar Eclipse
If you happen and witness a total solar eclipse, this means that you are one of the few lucky enough to fall in the area where the moon’s shadow falls on the earth as a result of its being straight with the sun and the earth in exactly one line so that the sunlight is completely obscured and the sky is darkened as at night. The total solar eclipse lasts for a short period ranging from a few seconds to eight minutes, and the eclipse occurs in a gradual manner, starting with partially covering the sun until it covers it completely following a period of regarding an hour.
Annular Solar Eclipse
If the moon is very far from the earth, its shadow will be too small to cover the entire massive disk of the sun. .
Partial Solar Eclipse
In this phenomenon, the moon blocks only part of the sun and the semi-shadow of the moon falls on the planet Earth. Therefore, people watching the eclipse will only see part of the sun’s disk.
Hybrid Eclipse
One of the rare cases of a solar eclipse is the merging of two cases of solar eclipse, where the viewer sees an annular eclipse from one region and a total eclipse from another region.
Solar eclipse shadow patterns
Umbra total shade
The total shadow of the solar eclipse appears when the total eclipse of the sun occurs, where the eclipse area becomes complete darkness and only people who are in the area of the solar eclipse can see the shadow.
Partial Shade Antumbra
The partial shadows of the eclipse have less impact if we compare them with the shadows of the total eclipse, and the partial shadows on the surface of the earth are rarely seen because of the formation of those shadows in an area far from the earth.
semi-shade Penumbra
The semi-shadow appears during the partial solar eclipse, and the moon appears gray or reddish to the viewer due to the light shadow formed by the moon.
Phases of a solar eclipse
Until a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun, there are phases:
full sun phase
It is the stage before the eclipse, when the sun is fully visible and without blocking in the sky without the appearance of the moon, which will block it. The place where the sun’s rays appear is called the photosphere.
The first contact stage
It can be considered the first stage of the solar eclipse, and this phenomenon is represented by the appearance of the moon from the northern hemisphere of the earth and the beginning of its contact with the edge of the sun disk from the right side.
partial solar eclipse
At this stage of the eclipse, the moon partially obscures the sun.
second contact stage
This stage is represented by the approach of the moon to completely block the sun’s disk.
total solar eclipse phase
This phase of the eclipse includes all the moments in which the lunar disk of the sun’s disk is completely covered.
The third contact stage
It is the stage of approaching the end of the eclipse phenomenon, as this stage shows the beginning of the gradual departure of the moon’s disk from the sun.
Sunlight restoration phase sunlight restored
Very soon following the third contact stage, the sun’s rays begin to appear once more and gradually.
fourth contact stage
It is the last stage of contact between the moon’s disk and the sun’s disk, where the solar eclipse ends completely, and the fourth stage of contact is represented by the contact of the tip of the moon’s disk with the edge of the sun’s disk.
Direct view of the solar eclipse
Watching the eclipse phenomenon is a fun thing, but if preventive methods are not taken and protect the eyes during observation, it may cause great damage to the retina and the inner layers of the eye. Focused or distorted vision and change colors and may reach blindness. Therefore, great care must be taken because the effects associated with viewing the eclipse in the wrong way do not appear until following a time (regarding a few hours or days) has passed.
How to watch the eclipse safely
In order to have unforgettable moments without harming oneself while watching this strange phenomenon, a special type of sunglasses can be used, specially made for eye protection, called “eclipse glasses”. (ISO 12312-2).
There are also some devices that are prohibited to be used during the eclipse, such as normal sunglasses or eclipse glasses that are damaged or scratched because they will allow radiation to leak into the eye, in addition to cameras and telescopes that have untreated lenses for the eclipse because they may cause damage due to looking through their lenses. Also, the eclipse rays may damage the camera of the mobile device, so it is advised not to use it and replace it with the treated camera.
