The only way to be confused about this is to work hard to make something complicated
out of something simple.
The sun shines on everything in its neighborhood. It's the only star close enough to us
to light things up. Think of the sun as a flashlight in a dark room.
If the sun shines on anything, it's lit up ... like the side of the earth that faces the sun.
If the sun doesn't shine on something, it's dark ... like the side of the earth that's
turned away from the sun.
The sun also shines on the moon, like a flashlight. The side of the moon facing the sun is lit up.
The earth is a big ball almost 8,000 miles across, and it has a shadow behind it ... where
you can't see the sun and the sun can't see you because the earth is in the way.
The moon is swinging around the earth, once every 27.3 days. When the moon swings
behind the earth and is lined up just right, it can get into a position where it can't see
the sun and the sun can't see it because the earth is in the way. When that happens,
the moon turns dark for a few hours, as if somebody put their hand in front of the
flashlight, until it swings a little further, comes out of the earth's shadow, and the
sun can see it again.
What's so difficult about that ?
The moon is in Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse. Earth doesn't have a definite front or back.
During a lunar eclipse, the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, casting its shadow on the Moon. The Earth's shadow has two parts: the outer penumbra and the inner umbra. When the Moon passes through the umbra, it is completely covered by Earth's shadow, leading to a total lunar eclipse.
A lunar eclipse
The dark shadow cast by the Earth on the Moon during a lunar eclipse is called the umbra. This is the central and darkest part of the shadow where the light from the Sun is completely blocked.
This phenomenon is called a lunar eclipse. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, causing the Earth's shadow to fall on the Moon, blocking the sunlight and causing the Moon to appear darkened or reddish in color.
During a lunar eclipse, the moon is in Earth's shadow.
During a lunar eclipse, the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow.
During a lunar eclipse, a full moon passes through the earth's shadow.
The moon is in Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse. Earth doesn't have a definite front or back.
It's the Earth's shadow.
During a lunar eclipse, the Moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth.
An eclipse. When the Earth is in the Moon's shadow, it's a solar eclipse; when the Moon is in the Earth's shadow, it's a lunar eclipse.
The umbra of the Earth's shadow during lunar eclipse is larger than the umbra of the Moon's shadow during a solar eclipse because the Earth is much larger than the Moon is; so, the Earth's shadow is bigger than the Moon's shadow.
During a lunar eclipse, the Moon is in Earth's shadow, so the position of Earth, of course, is between the Moon and the Sun.
Yes. A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth's shadow falls on the moon.
The shadow is cast by the earth upon the moon.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the normally full Moon crosses into the Earth's shadow, thereby creating a darkened area on the moon. During a partial lunar eclipse, only part of the Moon falls into the Earth's shadow. During a full lunar eclipse, the entire moon crosses through the earth's shadow, and therefore the entire moon is darkened.