explain the terms total and parial, penumbral and annular eclipse using the definitions of umbra and penumbra.

Answer 1

The umbra is the total part of the shadow. If you are in the umbra you cannot see any part of the Sun. The penumbra is the partial part of the shadow. If you are in the penumbra you can see part of the Sun but not all of it.

A total solar eclipse is when you on the Earth are in the umbra of the Moon's shadow and the whole Sun is hidden.

A partial solar eclipse is when you are in the penumbra of the Moon's shadow and can see part of the Sun, while part of it is hidden behind the Moon.

An annular solar eclipse is a special case of a partial eclipse where the Moon is at the high point in its elliptical orbit and so appears smaller than the Sun in the sky. As a result the umbra never touches the Earth and if you are in the place where the eclipse would have been total if the Moon were closer, you will see a little of the edge of the sun all around the Moon. The Sun will look like a very bright ring in the sky instead of a disk.

Only lunar eclipses can be penumbral. A penumbral lunar eclipse is when the Moon, or part of it, is in the penumbra for the Earth's shadow, but no part of it is in the umbra. If you were on the Moon, you would see a partial eclipse of the Sun.

Total and partial eclipses of the Moon are when all or part of the Moon is in the umbra of the Earth's shadow.

Since the Earth is much larger than the Moon, it has a larger shadow. As a result, the umbra of the Earth's shadow is much larger than the whole Moon, but the umbra of the Moon's shadow is much smaller than the Earth. So there can never be a total eclipse of the Earth as seen from the Moon. You would only seen a small shadow moving across the Earth. But total lunar eclipses are common, where the whole Moon gets dark as it is completely covered by the Earth's umbra.