SOLAR ECLIPSES

On 11th August 1999, people were able to witness a total eclipse of the Sun from some areas on Earth. These happen for a couple seconds about six times every ten years. We know the Moon is in the sky at night because we can see it but, during the day, the Moon may still be in the sky above our position on Earth. The reason we cannot see it is because the light from the Sun is much brighter. Sometimes though, the Moon goes in front of the sun and when it is exactly in front of it, we get a total eclipse. The Sun is millions of times bigger than the Moon but, because the moon is much closer to Earth than the Sun is, both objects appear almost the same size from Earth. So when we get a total eclipse of the Sun, most of the light from the Sun is prevented from hitting us.

Unfortunately last year, the total eclipse was ruined in Britain because of the cloudy weather. The sky went darker and the temperature fell (this shows how much light and warmth the sun provides) but we could not actually see the ring of the sun. However, pictures taken from above the clouds reveal what we missed.