and the By: Phoebe Price-Roberts http://www.space.com/15584-solar-eclipses.html
One night, Ozzy was looking at the moon with his grandpa like he normally does every night. Grandpa why does the moon light up then darken all the time? Ozzy asked curiously as he turned to look at his grandpa. http://www.usher-syndrome.org/index.cfm/pid/11034/cdid/11568 Well, long ago before you or I was born, the moon was formed in what we call the Big Splash Theory. A large gas giant the size of Mars crashed into the earth, spraying large rocks everywhere. The moon was a large rock that got stuck in orbit around earth, grandpa explained to his grandson who was now directing his full attention to his wise grandpa, You see Ozzy, legend says that when the moon was formed, the sun got angry and would cast the earth s shadow onto the moon causing the moon to be invisible to everyone on earth.
Woah. Is that what lunar eclipses are? What about solar eclipses? Yes Ozzy, that s what a lunar eclipse is. During a lunar eclipse, the moon can sometimes turn red because the red wavelengths are longer than the blue wavelengths. Solar eclipses are when the moon is in its new moon phase. The moon and sun line up so the moon covers the sun. In annual or partial solar eclipses the moon doesn t completely cover the sun, leaving a ring of the sun s atmosphere around the moon. http://www.mreclipse.com/special/seprimer.html http://oakdome.com/k5/lesson-plans/photo-editing/lunar-eclipse-illustration.php Grandpa when can I see that?! Well Ozzy, you see it only happens once every two years. Aw but that s such a long time! Ozzy complained to his grandpa, I want to see one now! Not many people get to see the solar eclipses, Grandpa continued, they don t last for very long. They can last for anywhere between a few seconds or several minutes. That s super cool! Why don t they last for very long though? Well, the moon revolves around the earth every 27 days approximately, and because the earth spins as well, the moon doesn t have much time to stay in one place. Is that why there is so many phases of the moon?! Ozzy exclaimed excitedly. Grandpa chuckled and shook his head.
Yes Ozzy. There are eight phases the moon goes through Wait! Ozzy stopped his grandpa from saying anymore, I think I know them! Okay, why don t you tell me what they are? Well I know that the light side goes from the left to right as the days pass. The first phase is the new moon because that s when it isn t visible from the earth. Then the waxing crescent which is an arched sliver of light that looks like a toenail! Very good Ozzy! What are the rest? There s the first quarter which is half the moon, then the waxing gibbous which is almost the whole moon showing! The fifth stage is the full moon which is when I can see everything! Grandpa laughed to himself as he watched his grandson excitedly explain the stages of the moon. Okay what s next? The last last three stages are the opposite of the first five except all of the waxing phases are called waning phases because the moon is getting darker. So the last three are the waning gibbous which is when the right side of the moon is beginning to darken, then the third quarter when the moon is half lit again and finally the waning crescent is when almost the whole moon has gone dark again. Then the cycle begins again! Ozzy s grandpa turned to give Ozzy a proud smile, Wow Ozzy, I had no idea you knew all of that! Ozzy stifled a yawn and quickly said, I like learning about the moon. Anyways, what about the rest of the legend? What happened between the
sun and the moon? They came to an agreement, Grandpa slowly explained, Both the sun and the moon gave equal values to the people on earth. During the day the sun comes out and at night the sun goes down and the moon comes up. The sun helps the moon go through it s phases so that people like us can see its true beauty at night. Grandpa turned his head to look over at Ozzy only to meet the eyes of his very tired grandson. Ozzy why don t we head to bed now? It s getting pretty late Ozzy mumbled a small, Okay. and the two of them headed back into the house to go to bed.
Phoebe Price-Roberts is a globally known publisher who has been extremely successful in her eight days of publishing. She lives at home with her sister, Bridget, her brother, Adrian and her parents, Nigel and Suzanne. Phoebe has not found her passion in astronomy book writing and is currently working on no other books. Phoebe s science teacher Bradie Cunningham has been a large influence on her as she is Phoebe s favorite science teacher in the whole wide world and has taught her so much about her favorite subject, chemistry!!!