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The Strangest Eclipse Fact Of All: The Moon’s Shadow Isn’t A Circle (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]
“To morrow, I believe, is to be an eclipse of the sun, and I think it perfectly meet and proper that the sun in the heavens, and the glory of the Republic should both go into obscurity and darkness together.” -Benjamin F. Wade
The Moon is spherical, and so its shadow should be a circle by simple geometry, right? Only, if we view it when it strikes Earth, it’s not even close to a circle. It’s stretched into an ellipse, and further complicated by irregular, sharp edges and corners. Why would it appear that way? As it turns out, three factors combine to get us there.
An illustration of the Sun-Moon-Earth configuration setting up a total solar eclipse. The Earth’s non-flatness means that the Moon’s shadow gets elongated when it’s close to the edge of the Earth. Image credit: Starry Night education software.
The first is the fact that Earth is a sphere, not a disk, so any shadow falling on it gets stretched. The second is that the Moon’s sharp peaks, valleys and craters mean that its shadow gets irregularly distorted in a way that changes as its orbit continues. And the third is that Earth isn’t smooth, but exhibits significant changes in elevation and terrain.
The shadow of the moon falls on Earth as seen from the International Space Station during the March 29, 2005 solar eclipse. Image credit: NASA / ISS / Expedition 12.
Source: http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2017/02/08/the-strangest-eclipse-fact-of-all-the-moons-shadow-isnt-a-circle-synopsis/
