2007-05-13 16:14:11 · 11 answers · asked by natalie 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
A lunar eclipse can only be seen at night. The moon gets darker as the earth's shadow falls across it. But it does not get completely black, because the earth's atmosphere refracts light into the shadow.
2007-05-13 16:18:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Night time during a full moon. The Earth cast a two part shadow, umbra and preumbra. If the moon passes thru the preumbra, it is a partial lunar eclipse. If total you will see the bright full moon and then a shadow will appear on the left side (naked eye). The shadow will eventually cover the moon but will not hide it, as the atmosphere of the Earth refracts the suns light and the moon turns red in color. From "first contact" (when shadow first touches the moon) to last contact (when moon is fully out of shadow) could last several hours. Just a few years ago, the moon was actually darkened due to dust in the atmosphere from volcanic activity (if I remember right), but was not visable during totality from New England anyway. Lunar eclipses are more common than solar as the Earth shadow is larger and easier for the moon to go thru it.
2007-05-13 19:39:34 · answer #2 · answered by orion_1812@yahoo.com 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A lunar eclipse is when the earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon. It is only visible during night hours, and during the full moon. This is because the Sun, Earth, and Moon must form a straight line. This happens twice per lunar cycle. Once at the new moon (potential solar eclipse), and once at the full moon (potential lunar eclipse).
During a partial lunar eclipse the shadow cast by earth blocks only a portion of the full moon. During a total lunar eclipse, the moon passes directly through the shadow cast by the earth. Eclipses typical last from a few minutes to about 2 or 3 hours. Hope this helps...
2007-05-13 17:46:39 · answer #3 · answered by KenP73 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lunar means moon, so lunar eclipse occurs at night. It can be a partial eclipse or total eclipse at which time during the full moon u will see a darkening of a portion or the whole moon as it passes thru the earth`s shadow. Solar means sun, so a solar eclipse occurs during the day.
2007-05-13 16:42:48 · answer #4 · answered by flamingo 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lunar eclipse can only happen at night since the earth is between the moon and the sun. We observe a darkening of the full moon as the earth's shadow passes over it.
2007-05-13 16:18:59 · answer #5 · answered by kevpet2005 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Lunar eclipse can happen during a full moon. The earth casts a shadow that covers the moon. The moon does not completely vanish but appears dark red
2007-05-13 16:18:52 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lunar eclipse occurs at night or near dawn, and only on a full moon night. It lasts only for an hour or so, and is quite shorter than a solar eclipse. In a lunar eclpse, we see that the moon slowly reduces in size and then again comes back to its full size.
Hope that helps.
2007-05-13 18:38:38 · answer #7 · answered by Anurag S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lunar eclipse can only occur at night. We oberve the shadow of the Earth, cast by the Sun, moving over the moon.
2007-05-13 16:25:39 · answer #8 · answered by Mother Amethyst 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you look at my name it was based about this question :).
A lunar eclipse is at night and is when the Moon passes through the umbra of the Earth's shadow. The umbra is the darkest part of a shadow. From within the umbra, the source of light is completely blocked by the object causing the shadow.
2007-05-13 17:56:41 · answer #9 · answered by shadow_watt 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It can happen during the day or night. The moon just has to be directly behind the earth so the sun can cast a shadow of the earth onto it.
~ZTM
2007-05-13 17:38:17 · answer #10 · answered by ZooTycoonMaster 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋