Eclipse

This definition page has been automatically generated. You can help ExoDictionary by expanding, updating, or correcting it.

This autostub has not yet had its initial copyediting proof and may contain significant formatting and even factual errors. You can improve Exodictionary by cleaning up the page markup and verifying that the definition is correct and then removing this tag.

This autostub has not yet had its initial categorization proof and may be categorized incorrectly. You can improve Exodictionary by removing inappropriate categories and then removing this tag.

Eclipse

</dt>
1. The reduction in visibility or disappearance of a nonluminous body by passing into the shadow cast by another nonluminous body. </dd>
2. The apparent cutting off, wholly or partially, of the light from a luminous body by a dark body coming between it and the observer. </dd>
1. The first type of eclipse is exemplified by a lunar eclipse, the moon passing through the shadow cast by the earth; or by the passage of a satellite into the shadow cast by its planet; but when the satellite actually passes directly behind its planet, it may properly be termed an occultation. </dd>
2. The second type of eclipse is exemplified by a solar eclipse, caused by the moon passing between the sun and the earth. If the relative positions and distances are such that at a point on the earth the sun is completely obscured, the eclipse is total; if the distances are such that, when in line with the sun, the moon is surrounded by a ring of light, the eclipse is annular; and when the moon passes to one side of a straight line from sun to observer and shows a crescent of light, it is a partial eclipse. </dd>

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use