Solar eclipse
natural phenomenon wherein the Sun is obscured by the Moon / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As seen from Earth, a solar eclipse /ee-klips/ happens when the Moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun. This makes the Moon fully or partially (partly) cover the sun. Solar eclipses can only happen during a new moon. Every year there are about two solar eclipses. Sometimes there are even five solar eclipses in a year. However, only two of these can be total solar eclipses,[1][2] and often a year will pass without a total eclipse.
The area in which an eclipse is total is only a narrow track along the Earth. Totality lasts only a few minutes. Outside this path, all eclipses are partial, and places far from the track get no eclipse at all. The track can be predicted many years before it happens.
A total solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon (event). Long ago, solar eclipses were thought to happen because of something supernatural or as a sign that something bad was going to happen. This is still believed in some cultures today. A total solar eclipse can frighten people who do not know what it means, because the Sun seems to disappear during the day and the sky turns dark in just a few minutes. Other people like to go to the eclipse path for a good view.
Solar eclipses happen somewhere on Earth almost every year, and very similar solar eclipses happen every 18 years, 11.3 days. This period is called the Saros cycle.