Lunar eclipses are familiar to people since an extreme antiquity. When the person did not know a scientific explanation for this natural phenomenon yet, fading of the Moon in the middle of the night or fading of the Sun in broad daylight, of course, caused the real panic. Really, the lunar eclipse is a mysterious and majestic show.
Instruction
1. Lunar eclipses are an evil omen? Lunar eclipses installed the real panic in ancient people. The whole generations of people considered lunar eclipses an evil omen until the person mastered science and calculated some regularities of space and universal scales. Was considered that bad burgundy color of the Moon is an approach of war, blood, death. Fortunately, the science could remove a mystery veil from this phenomenon, and all supernatural ideas of lunar eclipses sank into oblivion.
2. When do lunar eclipses occur? They arise in certain time, but only when there comes the full moon. At this time the night star begins to pass away from Earth opposite to the Sun. Here the Moon can get to a shadow which is cast at this time by Earth. Then people can observe a lunar eclipse.
3. How do lunar eclipses occur? They occur not as solar. The fact is that the Moon does not disappear completely as it does the Sun during a solar eclipse. The moon is only poorly visible. It occurs for the following reason: a part of sunbeams, passing through the terrestrial atmosphere, refracts in it and enters already in a terrestrial shadow, getting directly to the Moon. It is known that air passes red rays of light for this reason the night star becomes brown or copper-colored.
4. Full lunar zatmeniyeizvestno that diameter of Earth is more than diameter of Moon exactly by 4 times. Respectively the shadow from Earth is more than Moon by 2.5 times. All this leads to the fact that the night star sometimes can enter entirely a terrestrial shadow that causes already a total lunar eclipse. Scientists counted and came to a conclusion that total lunar eclipses are the most long, than total solar eclipses, and can last till 1 hour 40 minutes!
5. Statistics of lunar eclipses According to observations of astronomers, in one year can happen to three lunar eclipses. It should be noted that they repeat exactly through the same interval of time, as solar eclipses which is equal to 18 years 11 days and 8 hours. Scientists even gave the name to this period: saros (repetition). It is curious that saros paid off still in the ancient time therefore it is possible to calculate and predict exact day of a lunar eclipse. But here beforehand the task is more difficult to predict the exact time of its approach and also a condition for its visibility – it: different generations of astronomers studied the whole centuries the movement of the Moon and Earth to solve this problem. Now possible mistakes in calculations of the moments of approach of lunar eclipses does not surpass 4 seconds!