Eclipse

An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. An eclipse is a type of syzygy.

The term eclipse is most often used to describe either a solar eclipse, when the Moon's shadow crosses the Earth's surface, or a lunar eclipse, when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. However, it can also refer to such events beyond the Earth-Moon system: for example, a planet moving into the shadow cast by one of its moons, a moon passing into the shadow cast by its host planet, or a moon passing into the shadow of another moon. A binary star system can also produce eclipses if the plane of the orbit of its constituent stars intersects the observer's position.

Read more about Eclipse:  Etymology, Umbra, Penumbra and Antumbra, Eclipse Cycles, Earth-Moon System, Eclipsing Binaries

Famous quotes containing the word eclipse:

    Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.
    Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

    He who does something at the head of one Regiment, will eclipse him who does nothing at the head of a hundred.
    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)