eclipseastronomy
Eclipse research activities » Lunar research
Lunar eclipses can yield information about the cooling of the Moon’s soil when the Sun’s radiation is suddenly removed and therefore about the soil’s conductivity of heat and its structure. Infrared and radio-wavelength radiation from the Moon declines in intensity more slowly than does visible light emission during an eclipse because they are emitted from below the surface, and measurements indicate how far the different kinds of radiation penetrate into the lunar soil. Infrared observations show that at many “bright spots” the soil retains its heat much longer than in surrounding areas.
Because of the absence of a lunar atmosphere, the Moon’s solid surface is exposed to the full intensity of ultraviolet and particulate radiation from the Sun, which may give rise to fluorescence in some rock materials. Observations during lunar eclipses have given positive results for this phenomenon, with the appearance of abnormal bright regions in eclipse-obscured parts of the Moon.
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Table of Contents
- Main
- Phenomena observed during eclipses
- The geometry of eclipses, occultations, and transits
- The frequency of solar and lunar eclipses
- Eclipse research activities
- Transits of Mercury and Venus
- Occultations
- Eclipsing binary stars
- Eclipses in history
- Additional Reading
- Related Links
- External Web sites
- Citations
Media
- Total eclipse of the Sun occurring shortly after sunrise, in a composite photograph that shows …[Credits : Larry Landolfi/Photo Researchers, Inc.]
- Geometry of a lunar eclipse. The Moon revolving in its orbit around Earth passes through Earth’s …
- Successive phases of a total (top) and a partial (bottom) solar eclipse. The dark disk of the Moon …
- The geometry of a total solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon sweeps over the surface of Earth. In …
- Eclipse, occultation, and transit of a Galilean moon of Jupiter. The designations …
- Apparent motions of the Sun and the Moon on the celestial sphere (see the text).
- Ascending node of the Moon’s orbit as seen from an observer on Earth (the centre of the celestial …
- Transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun, a composite of five separate images in ultraviolet …[Credits : NASA/TRACE/SMEX]
- Venus crossing the face of the Sun, in a telescopic image recorded on a photographic plate on Dec. …[Credits : U.S. Naval Observatory Library]
- Light curve of Algol (Beta Persei), an eclipsing variable, or eclipsing binary, star system. The …[Credits : Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
- Babylonian clay tablet giving a detailed description of the total solar eclipse of April 15, 136 …[Credits : F. Richard Stephenson]
- Chinese text from an astronomical treatise contained in the Houhanshu …[Credits : F. Richard Stephenson]
- Arabic manuscript containing records of the eclipses of ad 993 (solar), 1001 (lunar), 1002 …[Credits : F. Richard Stephenson]
- The orbit of Charon around Pluto as viewed from Earth, 1982–93. Between 1985 and 1990, Pluto …[Credits : Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
- Experimental evidence for general relativity[Credits : Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
- Io, in Jupiter’s shadow, photographed by the Galileo spacecraft on May 6, 1997. The relative …[Credits : Photo NASA/JPL/Caltech (NASA photo # PIA00704)]
- Total solar eclipse. The delicately structured glow of the solar corona—or solar …[Credits : Copyright AURA Inc./National Optical Astronomy Observatories/National Science Foundation]
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