July 27 – Lunar eclipse: why will it last so long?



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Compare: The other lunar eclipse visible in North America is scheduled on January 21, 2019 and will only last one hour and two minutes.

The eclipse period is so radically different

An eclipse of the sun takes place on the moon, preventing sunlight from reaching the Earth. They always last less than eclipses of the moon, when our inhabited planet interacts between the Sun and the Moon. The differences are caused by the shadows, explained the astronomer at Nichols University, Kaisa Young. One can also think: The eclipse of the sun occurs when the small moon casts a tiny shadow on a large planet. When the moon began to interfere with the sun's shadow to travel to the Earth, as happens through the solar eclipse, the area of ​​the shadow (absolute shadow, when the light from the sun is totally blocked). The Earth has only a few tens of kilometers in diameter and moves rapidly to the surface of the planet. The shadow of the planet can be extremely large, so the trip takes a lot of time on the moon (especially if it has to move in the middle of the shadows).

According to K. Young, there are striking differences between solar and lunar eclipses. The Earth, the Moon and the Sun are not perfectly aligned in one line, explains the astronomer, who does not rest on anything other than the positions of the Sun, the Moon and the Earth.

The orbital angle of the moon is about 5 degrees. The orbit of the moon around the sun plane only crosses twice in 27 days (for so many days it revolves around the Earth). This is the way to describe the decisive factor in the essential eclipse

About twice in 11 months, the aircraft intersections coincide, and the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are in a row. Such a coincidence determines the eclipse of the sun (the moon is in the middle), and the second – the moon (the planet appears in the middle)

That is why solar and lunar eclipses are usually done by pairs and are separated for about two weeks. And that 's why, during the year, there are only four complete eclipses, adds an expert.

It is important to understand that not all eclipses are the same: the 11-month cycle is not perfectly regular and stable. Sometimes the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are far from perfect and the shadow of the Earth has a slight advantage: for example, on July 13, only the inhabitants of South Australia observe the eclipse of the sun.

There are cases where the three heavenly bodies The moon is spread precisely in the middle of the earth's shadow, where the moon's shadow glides near the Earth's equator. Such eclipses last much longer, says K. Young.

The last factor determining the duration of the eclipse is the time of year. In July, the Earth is at the highest point of the Sun in its orbit, and the Sun, compared to other times of the year, seems to be the smallest in the sky throughout the year . This means that the moon and the earth can better protect the sun and the eclipses themselves last longer. Earth is closest to the Sun in January, which means that eclipses are the smallest.

That is why the longest eclipses occur at this time, the northern hemisphere is the summer and the shortest in the northern hemisphere in winter. The eclipse of July 27, when the Moon will travel in the middle of the Earth's shadow, will last a long time.

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