Eclipse 2006: Celestia Simulation

Simulation of the March 29th, 2006 total eclipse, as it could have been seen from the geostationary satellite Meteosat-8; simulation by Celestia

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• total
• solar
• system
• eclipse
• simulation
• 3D
• software
• celestia

[Houston4444]

the shadow is so small because the sun is huge.

[juandesant]

This is a geometrical problem. The sun is indeed huge, but very far away. The moon is much smaller than both the sun and Earth, but it is at the right distance to subtend a slightly bigger angle than the Sun as seen from the surface.

[juandesant]

If the angle were the same (because the sun were smaller, the moon bigger, or a little further away), we would se just a point of shadow. And if the sun were bigger, the moon were smaller, or much further away, we would only get annular eclipses and that is going to happen in the next million year, as the moon is getting farther away from Earth at a small rate.

[juandesant]

Of course, if the moon is getting away from as, when the first hominid started to watch the sky, 2 million years from now, total eclipses were much more frequent, and lasted for up to a quarter of an hour, something horrible for people not knowing what was happening and the shadow over such an Earth would be much bigger.

Don't try that with Celestia, however, as the orbital parameters do not include such effect.

[zizumia]

the moons so small! it only shadows a little part of the earth

[juandesant]

Hi, Zizumia, the moon is not that small. It is more than 1/4 the diameter of the Earth, but it is 200 times its size apart from the Earth.

What happens is that the dark shadow of the moon is a cone whose base is on the moon, and decreases in size towards the Earth. But the light shadow of the moon increases in size towards the Earth.

If you try to do shadows on a wall using a lamp, you'll see how the farther you are from the wall, the smaller the dark shadow, and the larger the light one.

[zizumia]

yha. i was meaning the moons small comared to earth.=) r u like a teacher or something? u sound like 1.

[6MadTongue6]

jea thanx mate that helped..ehee not really ..i didnt tryd that but i asked one of my true gangsta homie ..and he explained to me xD!but thnx to you anyways..any new videos coming ??

[juandesant]

Besides, that is only true if you have a flat light, but if you have a point source, that is no longer true. You can try to use a light bulb and a ball casting a shadow against a wall, and you'll see...

[RenTtiBMoD]

there wer 3 comets in the background :S really close :S