TOPIC 1 ECLIPSE

The orbit of the earth round the sun is definitely longer than the orbit of the moon round the earth.
Hence the moon completes 12.4 rounds of the earth as the earth only completes one round of the sun.
This means that the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth - at least 12.4 times during the time
the earth completes one revolution. In the same way, the earth appears between the moon and the sun
equally 12.4 times as it orbits the sun in one year.

As the earth and the moon are solid bodies, they have shadows which are always thrown on the
opposite side of the sun.

The shadow has two components viz:

I. The umbra is the solid dark shadow of the earth or moon on the moon or earth respectively.
II. The penumbra is the zone of partial darkness on both sides of the umbra.

Within the umbra, the earth or the moon is completely obscured. In the penumbra, the earth or the
moon is partially obscured. The obscure situation is known as eclipse - the covering of a body by the
shadow of another body. This term eclipse is peculiar with two of the three bodies of the earth-system: -
The Earth and the Moon. The Sun is never obscured.

When the moon is between the earth and the sun, the shadow of the moon is thrown on the earth and
a part of the earth receiving this shadow cannot see the light from the sun i.e. it is eclipsed/obscured
from the sun. This is solar eclipse. In other words, the moon covers the affected part of the earth from
the sun. When the earth is between the Moon and the Sun, the Moon cannot reflect directly onto the
earth. Hence the earth will not be able to see moon light. This is lunar eclipse. These are the eclipse
situations that give rise to different but often contradicting interpretations. Eclipses occur several times
in a year at a maximum of seven and a minimum of two. However, eclipses do not repeat themselves in
one place successively owing to the inclinations of the earth's and the lunar orbits, and the varying
speed of their revolutions

Lunar Eclipse

Lunar eclipse or eclipse of the moon occurs only at full moon when the earth is in a straight line
between the sun and the moon and the shadow of the earth is thrown on the moon. The earth's shadow
is of two shades. The full dark shadow of the earth called the umbra and the extended darkness where
only part of the moon is faintly blocked and the part seen appears as a crescent/new moon.

As the moon is much smaller than the earth, and much nearer the earth than the sun, the moon does
not cover the entire breath of the umbra. Consequently, the duration of the total lunar eclipse is long
enough for observation than that of the total solar eclipse.

Astronomers recognize three forms of lunar eclipse with specific features:

(a) Penumbra Lunar Eclipse: This is when the moon passes across the earth's penumbral region in an
indirect manner.
(b) The Partial Lunar Eclipse: Occurs where a portion of the moon passes through the umbral shadow
and is readily and easily seen.

(c) Total Lunar Eclipse: Occurs when the entire moon is within the umbra. It shows some vibrant range
of colors that are available in the moon. The earth blocks solar light from reaching the moon as it passes
across. Total lunar eclipse does not occur every month because the 50 inclination of the moon's orbit on
the earth's orbit often throws the shadow of the earth outside the moon.

Solar Eclipse

An eclipse of the sun (Solar Eclipse) occurs when the moon is between the sun and the earth and the
shadow of the moon is thrown on the earth. Under normal conditions, solar eclipse should occur during
every new moon because that is when the moon is not seen as it covers the sun. Later in the new moon
phase, some portion of the moon is reflected on the earth as a crescent. Incidentally, every new moon
does not mean solar eclipse because of the inclination of the moon's orbit on the earth's orbit. Hence
the moon's shadow misses the earth. The total phase of a solar eclipse is very brief in view of the dot
size of the umbra compared to the size of the entire earth or the affected surface region. The track of
the moon's shadow across the earth is called the path of totality. In total solar eclipse, the moon is
placed in the middle of the sun producing a dark spot. Around the dark spot, the corona becomes
prominent and damaging to the eyes. In total eclipse, it is complete darkness at the umbra. The total
phase of a solar eclipse is very short lived. This agrees with the speed of rotation of the earth and the
combined effect of the speed of revolution. It lasts all together for less than 5mins at a place.

There are four types of solar eclipse:

A total eclipse occurs when the Moon is completely obscured by the Sun. The intensely bright disk of
the Sun is replaced by the dark silhouette of the Moon, and the much fainter corona is visible. During
any one eclipse, totality is visible only from at most a narrow track on the surface of the Earth. This
happens when the umbra of the moon's shadow is thrown on a part of the earth. The umbral shadow
stretches over some 10,000 km long but only some 185km± wide. This means that only a very narrow
portion of the earth (1.850mkm2) approximately experiences total solar eclipse at a time.

An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon
is smaller than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the
outline of the Moon.
A hybrid eclipse (also called annular/total eclipse) transitions between a total and annular eclipse. At
some points on the surface of the Earth it is visible as a total eclipse, whereas at others it is annular.
Hybrid eclipses are comparatively rare.
A partial eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are not exactly in line, and the Moon only partially
obscures the Sun. This phenomenon can usually be seen from a large part of the Earth outside of the
track of an annular or total eclipse. However, some eclipses can only be seen as a partial eclipse,
because the umbra never intersects the Earth's surface.

TOPIC 2 SUN

The Structure of the Sun

The sun’s spherical structure is a result of two constantly competing forces: gravity from the dense mass
at the sun’s center trying to pull all of its plasma inward versus energy from the nuclear fusion taking
place in the core, causing the plasma to expand.

The sun is made up of seven layers: three inner and four outers. They are, from the center outward:

Core

Radiative zone

Convective zone

Photosphere

Chromosphere

Transition region

Corona

The Layers of the Sun

We’ve talked about the core a lot already; it is where fusion takes place. As you’d expect, it’s where
you’ll find the highest temperature on the sun: some 27,000,000,000 (27 million) degrees Fahrenheit.

The radiative zone, sometimes called the “radiation” zone, is where energy from the core travels
outward primarily as electromagnetic radiation.

The convective zone, aka “convection” zone, is where the energy is carried primarily by currents within
the layer’s plasma. Think of how vapor from a boiling pot carries heat from the burner up into the air
above the stove, and you’ll have the right idea.

The “surface” of the sun, such that it is, is the photosphere. This is what we see when we look at the
sun. The electromagnetic radiation emitted by this layer is visible to the naked eye as light, and it’s so
bright that it hides the less dense outer layers from view.

The chromosphere is hotter than the photosphere, but it's not as hot as the corona. Its temperature
causes hydrogen to emit reddish light. It’s usually invisible but can be seen as a reddish glow
surrounding the sun when a total eclipse hides the photosphere.

The transition zone is a thin layer where temperatures shift dramatically from the chromosphere to the
corona. It’s visible to telescopes that can detect ultraviolet (UV) light.

Finally, the corona is the outermost layer of the sun and is extremely hot – hundreds of times hotter
than the photosphere – but invisible to the naked eye except during a total eclipse, when it appears as a
thin white aura around the sun. Exactly why it’s so hot is a bit of a mystery, but at least one factor seems
to be “heat bombs”: packets of extremely hot material that float up from deep in the sun before
exploding and releasing energy into the corona.

Solar Wind
As anybody who’s ever had a sunburn can tell you, the effects of the sun extend far beyond the corona.
In fact, the corona is so hot and distant from the core that the sun’s gravity can’t keep a hold on the
super-heated plasma – charged particles stream off into space as a constant solar wind.

The Sun Will Eventually Die

Despite the sun’s incredible size, it will eventually run out of the hydrogen it needs to sustain its fusion
core. The sun is has a predicted total lifespan of around 10 billion years. It was born about 4.6 billion
years ago, so there’s quite a while before it will burn out, but it will.

The sun radiates an estimated 3.846 × 1026 J of energy every day. With that knowledge, we can
estimate how much mass it must be converting on a per-second basis. We’ll spare you more math for
now; it comes out to around 4.27 × 109 kg per second. In just three seconds, the sun consumes about as
much mass as makes up the Great Pyramid of Giza, twice over.

When it runs out of hydrogen, it will begin to use its heavier elements for fusion – a volatile process that
will make it expand to 100 times its current size while spewing much of its mass into space. When it
finally exhausts its fuel, it will leave behind a small, extremely dense object called a white dwarf, about
the size of our Earth but many, many times more dense.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/in-depth/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2IQb7bJKVY&list=PL76Jds8QvBugf6iUs9J46WSJDFbpjaLTb