What is the difference in a Lunar Eclipse and a Cresent Moon?

Question

My daughter just called me to tell me there was a Lunar Eclipse tonight.I didn't hear about it so I think it might be the latter. What is the difference???

Answer 1

A crescent moon is just you seeing a tiny bit of the day side of the moon (the night side is dark). It is part of the normal cycle of lunar phases. A lunar eclipse happens when the earth's shadow covers the moon. This is a rare event when the sun, earth, and moon, all line up straight.

Answer 2

That eclipse was Monday the 19th (Sunday night in North America) so you've already long missed it.

Depending on where you are, you might be able to see the total eclipse of the moon on August 27th-28th. The full eclipse can be seen in all of North and South America (wee hours of the 28th), Hawaii and the eastern Pacific (evening of the 27th) and Australia, New Zealand, and most of east Asia including India and China (evening of the 28th-29th). It's not visible in Europe, the Middle East or Africa. In some places, such as here in New York, we'll see only part of the show because the moon sets before the eclipse ends.

P.S. I just realized what your daughter is telling you! There is indeed a crescent moon tonight (Wednesday), tomorrow night and Friday evening (Saturday in Australia). From the Northern Hemisphere it stands high in the western sky in the evening.

There's no connection between crescent moons and an eclipse, except the superficial resemblance of a crescent.

Crescent moons happen several days at a time, twice a month. The crescent phase of a lunar eclipse happens for a few minutes before and after totality during a total eclipse of the moon. They have nothing else in common. Your daughter probably called it an "eclipse" because she heard about a real eclipse the evening of March 3rd-4th.

Answer 3

I have no idea why people confuse the two. Tonight you will see a crescent moon just after sunset. It is crescent simply because the sun being 400 times as far away, is far behind the moon even though it looks like it is just to one side.

That means it is mostly shining on the back, and only illumintaing a tiny portion which you see as a crescent.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth gets directly between the moon and the sun. If you picture that in your mind, it can only happen at a time when the sun is shining full face on the moon (full moon).

The eclipse happens because the Earth’s shadow extends way past the moon and at special full moons, the moon actually enters the shadow and gets dimmed out.

What you see tonight happens every month of your life without fail, and has happened every month since the dawn of time.

Answer 4

A lunar eclipse can only happen during a full Moon, and there is not a full Moon tonight; there is a crescent Moon. An eclipse is when the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon. A crescent Moon is just when we see the Moon from a side not directly illuminated by the Sun and the Moon shades part of itself as seen from Earth.

Answer 5

As it circles our planet, the changing position of the Moon with respect to the Sun causes our natural satellite to cycle through a series of phases:

New, New Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full,
Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Old Crescent and back to New again.

The phase known as New Moon can not actually be seen because the illuminated side of the Moon is then pointed away from Earth. The rest of the phases are familiar to all of us as the Moon cycles through them month after month.

When the Moon is Full, it rises at sunset and is visible all night long. At the end of the night, the Full Moon sets just as the Sun rises. None of the Moon's other phases have this unique characteristic. It happens because the Moon is directly opposite the Sun in the sky when the Moon is Full. Full Moon also has special significance with regard to eclipses.

An eclipse of the Moon (or lunar eclipse) can only occur at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped components, one nested inside the other. The outer or penumbral shadow is a zone where the Earth blocks part but not all of the Sun's rays from reaching the Moon. In contrast, the inner or umbral shadow is a region where the Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.

Astronomers recognize three basic types of lunar eclipses:

1. Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

The Moon passes through Earth's penumbral shadow.
These events are of only academic interest since they are subtle and quite difficult to observe.
2. Partial Lunar Eclipse

A portion of the Moon passes through Earth's umbral shadow.
These events are easy to see, even with the unaided eye.
3. Total Lunar Eclipse

The entire Moon passes through Earth's umbral shadow.
These events are quite striking for the vibrant range of colors the Moon can take on during the total phase (i.e. - totality).

the Moon's orbit around Earth is actually tipped about 5 degrees to Earth's orbit around the Sun. This means that the Moon spends most of the time either above or below the plane of Earth's orbit. And the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun is important because Earth's shadows lie exactly in the same plane. During Full Moon, our natural satellite usually passes above or below Earth's shadows and misses them entirely. No eclipse takes place. But two to four times each year, the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's penumbral or umbral shadows and one of the above three types of eclipses occurs.

When an eclipse of the Moon takes place, everyone on the night side of Earth can see it. About 35% of all eclipses are of the penumbral type which are very difficult to detect, even with a telescope. Another 30% are partial eclipses which are easy to see with the unaided eye. The final 35% or so are total eclipses, and these are quite extrordinary events to behold.

Last eclipse visible in Europe -

2007 Mar 03 Total 1.238 Umbral Magnitude, 01h14m Duration, Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia

Unfortunately the next one 2007 Aug 28 is not visible in Europe. You will have to wait until 2008 Feb 21 for your next total eclipse.

Answer 6

lunar eclipse is when the earth comes between the sun and the moon but cresent moon is when the earth is totally catptured by the moon where solar eclipse is occurred.
So that is the different betwenthem.

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_moon

Wikipedia is your friend ;)