what is the difference between a solar and lunar eclipse?
456228
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the earth and the sun.  From our perspective, this looks like the moon is covering up the sun.\n\nA lunar eclipse occurs when the earth moves between the moon and the sun.  The earth's shadow covers the moon and the moon appears to grow dark
564515
About 93 million miles away from the sun, give or take...about the same as earth, since the moon orbits the earth.\n\nIf you mean, what is the APPARENT position of the moon in relation to the sun, as seen from earth, it varies all the time, from 0 degrees (as during a solar eclipse) to 180 degrees (a lunar eclipse).
488954
The next total solar eclipse will occur on August 1, 2008.\nThe next total eclipse of the Moon will occur on the night of 2007 March 03/04. The event will be visible from parts of North and South America as well as Europe, Africa, and Asia
160910
Technically, 3 (I think).\n\nAn eclipse happens when the Moon's orbit intersects the Earth's plane of orbit around the Sun AND the Moon and Sun are in the right place.  The first condition happens once each Lunar cycle, while the second condition happens twice in Earht's orbit around the Sun.  But since these cycles don't correspond exactly to 1 month or 1 year, it can technically happen 3 times (I am thinking) - at the start, mid and end of the year.
705215
There is a lunar eclipse.
36871
Lunar: Total Eclipse, March 3, 2007, 6:21 PM\nSolar: No real eclipses visible until May 20, 2012
465729
Two possibilities not previously mentioned: first, phone your various friends around the world, and ask them the time! You will then find out that the sun is at a different height in the sky at different places. So at least the world is not flat, since the sun is very much farther out than the distances between any two points on earth.\n\nSecond, wait for a lunar eclipse. This is the Earth's shadow projected on the moon. It is round. The Earth is not a disk (see first experiment) but casts a round shadow: a sphere seems indicated. In fact, it is a sliughtly flattened sphere (ellipsoid, in fancy language)
603218
Well to start, they are very different things. \n\nA solar eclipse is then the moon blocks the light of the sun. This happens in a narrow band across the daylight side of the earth. And because the earth tilts on its axis, and the distance to the moon varies, the area that is eclipsed varies with each eclipse. Now because of the distance to the moon, the earth "just" passes into the shadow cast by the moon. So the actual area which gets a full eclipse is quite small, And sometimes there is not even a full eclipse.\n\nA lunar eclipse is when the moon moves into the shadow of the earth. Thus pretty much anywhere on the night side of the earth can see the lunar eclipse, as the moon is visible from all over the earth.\n\nThere are a ton of sites on the internet that can help you understand this. check them out, or start here\n\nhttp://www.astro.umd.edu/education/astro/moon/eclipses.html\n\nhttp://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
272545
Lunar eclipses occur at full moon, when the moon passes into the earth's shadow.  This does not occur at every full moon because the moon's orbit is inclined 5 degrees to the orbit of the earth around the sun, so the alignment must have the moon crossing through the earth's orbital plane at full moon.\n\nWhat we see depends on what part of the earth's shadow the moon passes into.  The shadow consists of two areas, the umbra and the penumbra.  The penumbra is a much lighter shadow, and lunar eclipses that occur when the moon only passes into it are difficult to see.  The portion of the moon that dims does so only a little.  When the moon passes into the umbra, the effect is more easily visible.  If the moon only goes part way into the umbra, the area in that portion of the shadow will become noticeably darker.  If the moon passes entirely into the umbra, that is a total lunar eclipse.  The moon will get much darker and will turn a rust color.  This reddish color is due to light that gets through the earth's atmosphere and back to the moon.  If you think about the color  of sunset and sunrise, it is primarily red.  It is this red light around the rim of the earth (as you would see the unlit side of the earth from the moon during a full moon) that illuminates the moon during a total lunar eclipse and makes it appear dark red.
956093
The lunar plane (the imaginary circle around the earth in which the moon revolves) is not in line with earth's view of the sun, hence solar eclipses, especially total solar eclipses, are rare events.\n\nBoth types of eclipses have comparative frequencies, but you're more likely to be able to see a lunar eclipse. The reason is, the earth's shadow is so much larger than the moon, and amost anyone on the night side of the earth will be able to see the lunar eclipse.\n\nCompare this to the shadow of the moon, which is really small when it falls on the earth, so only a limited number of people in a small area can see it.
1080564
ok...this is a little complicated. when there is a solar eclipse, only a certain section of the earth can see it because of the angle of light from the sun going around the moon. i cant remember the terminology, but if you look it up on the internet, you could probably find it.
1122015
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. If the same thing happens where the moon passes through the earth's shadow, that's called a lunar eclipse.
135072
I would expand this to say that a lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is positioned directly between the sun and the moon, and their plane of orbits align.\n\nThe last point is critical because you could easily wonder why we don't have lunar eclipses every month when the moon's orbit is such that the earth is in the middle... because the order of the planets is not only important, but that they line up just exact so that the earth's shadow does not fall just above or below the moon, but directly on it.
906326
Parallax.  By coincidence, the Sun is about 400 times as far away as the Moon and also 400 times the diameter, so it appears about the same size.  If I see a total solar eclipse here in NZ, then anywhere else in the world, the Moon won't be directly in front of the Sun.  For instance, the 1999 total eclipse of the Sun started in Nova Scotia.  Before that, it was only visible from space.   The path of totality crossed the Atlantic, Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, Iran, India and then left the surface of the Earth again.
214288
First, you must picture in your mind the 3 celestial bodies: sun, earth and moon. Picture the moon circling the earth: now it is between the earth and the sun, now it is at the other side of the earth, now it comes back again between earth and sun... As you know it takes about 4 weeks for the moon to make an entire circle around the earth.\nWhat happens when the moon is between us and the sun? well, it receives light from the sun on the face that is turned that way, so  we can't see it at the moment. That's why we can't see the new moon! It's there is the sky, but not lighted in the side facing us!\nThen 2 weeks later the moon is on the opposite side. The face that is facing the sun - and reflecting all that sunlight - is also facing the earth! So we see it fully - full moon.\nBut the path of the moon is not entirely on the same plane as us and the sun, there is a slight angle!!  Only sometimes it happens that the shadow of the earth catches the moon when it's full (and when it is perfectly aligned with the earth and the sun). THAT's your eclipse!!
746634
Day or night, you are seeing the portion of the moon that is facing the sun. The only time Earth blocks illumination of the moon is during a lunar eclipse, which happens only two or three times a year.
499567
no it's not cos of the earth's shadow on the moon. its cos of the position of the sun and the angle at which the sun's rays hit the moon. the moon moves around the earth. if it moves further from the sun, less light will be reflected and you see a half-moon or quarter-moon.\n\nas u know, the light hte moon 'projects' is actually the reflection of light. the moon isnt a source of light. \n\nwhen the sun is directly behind the moon, and it shines on the 'back' of the moon, this causes an eclipse cos ppl on earth can only see a dark circle (the moon - as it does not reflect light in this case) and a whitish circle around the moon (the sun's rays)\n\nhope this helps!! :D