I’ve seen one partial solar eclipse in my lifetime and several lunar eclipses—they always fascinate me. Unfortunately for me, last week’s partial solar eclipse was only visible in Europe, North Africa and central Asia. If you got a glimpse, lucky you! National Geographic posted some great photos of the occurrence.
You may already know that a solar eclipse is not the same as a lunar eclipse. What’s the difference? A lunar eclipse is when the Earth blocks sunlight to the moon. In other words, the moon moves into the shadow of earth. From Earth, the moon looks orange and the sky gets darker. If you’re patient, you can watch as the moon slips slowly into the shadow.
A solar eclipse, like this one, is more of a rare occurrence. It happens during the daytime and occurs when the moon blocks the sunlight to the Earth. According to NASA, the next two occurrences will be on June 1 (Partial Solar Eclipse) and June 15 (Total Lunar Eclipse.)
