Solar and Lunar Eclipses

                  Solar and Lunar Eclipses

Lunar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse

     To begin telling you guys what the solar and lunar eclipses are, I'm going to tell you about what an eclipse is. An eclipse is an astronomical term in which an object in space is concealed by either blocking the view of an object or getting blocked by one. 
     Knowing that, solar eclipses occurs when the moon comes in between the Earth and the sun. The moon blocks the view of the star and conceals it. If the moon's orbit was completely circular, then we would have a solar eclipse every month. But since the moon's orbit is a little bit tilted, we rarely get solar eclipses. Solar eclipses can only be seen in some and not all parts of the world, because Earth is round. Solar eclipses last for about a few minutes because of the continuation of orbiting by the moon and the sun. 
     Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth is in the middle and the moon and sun are on opposite sides of each other. During lunar eclipses, the moon becomes a little bit dark since there is no sunlight shining on it. Lunar eclipses are rarer than solar eclipses because in order to have the lunar eclipses to occur, the moon has to be a full moon. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses last for a few hours. It can be seen from a lot of places on the globe at night.

Penumbra and umbra basically are some parts of shadows.

Constellations

                             Constellations
     A constellation is a group of stars that form a shape or pattern. Astronomers use constellations to tell which star is which. If it's really dark, we can see about 1,000 stars out in the sky. It's important for astronomers to group up the stars so that they can study them easier. 
     The constellations were named after mythological characters, animals, and people. A lot of the names were actually made by people from all over the world dating from 3000 B.C., or maybe even earlier. In the olden days, people use constellations for navigating at night or for telling the changing seasons. People in different places around the globe have different perspectives of the constellations. The constellations look differently because of Earth's rotation. Constellations are kind of like the connecting the dots game that everyone can play. 

     Due to Earth's rotation, in different times of the 12 months, different constellations appear. Our 12 zodiac signs are constellations. I think constellations originated from Babylonia. Later, Romans added on to their idea.  
     One constellation is called the Big Dipper. It's a group of 7 stars that points to the direction of Polaris, the end star of the Little Dipper.                  

Moons

                                                                   Moons 

     The Earth's moon rotates around Earth because of its gravitational pull. Moons, also called satellites, come in many different shapes and sizes. Not every moon is like our moon. Many moons are lumpy and not circular shaped. They are also made of different things. Io, one of Jupiter's moons, is filled with volcanoes while many other moons are made of rock and ice. Most of the moons in our solar system was probably formed by the gas and dust that surrounded the planets in the early days of our solar system. 
     There are many moons in our solar system spinning around the other 7 planets. Mars have 2 moons, Jupiter has about 50-67 moons, Saturn has 53-62 moons, Uranus has about 27 moons, and Neptune has 13 moons. The dwarf planets in our solar system also have moons of their own.  Pluto's largest moon is called Charon and it's about half the size of the dwarf planet.

     Earth's moon shines because of the sun. Our waves on the ocean are made by the moon's gravitational pull. Unlike Earth, the moon has no atmosphere causing many asteroid impacts, thus having many craters, holes. Many people wonder why the moon has many phases. (Ex: full moon; crescent moon) The reason behind this is because of its rotation and Earth's rotation. The sun shines on the rotating moon, while the Earth also rotates. People on Earth only see the part of the moon that gets shined by the sun. Also, the moon is made of cheese. (JK)      

Black Holes

                                                       Black Holes
     Black holes are huge vacuums in space. They suck up everything in their path. The more they suck up, the bigger they get. There is one huge black hole in the middle of our galaxy, but thank goodness our solar system isn't anywhere near that. 
     Black holes are made when big stars die. When stars die, they explode in a process called supernova. After the explosion, a neutron star or a black hole may appear. If the solar mass of the core is more than 3 solar masses, weight of the star, then the core becomes a black hole.If the core of a supernova is about 1.4 to 3 solar masses the protons and electrons continues and forms into neutrons, a type of element. This process creates neutron stars. 
     Scientists have discovered many galaxies with huge black holes in the center. Studying black holes, astronomers can know a lot about how the galaxies are formed. Scientists, now, are finding the answer to the question: "Which came first: the black hole or the galaxy?" 
     No one has ever been sucked into a black hole and came back before. If you can even enter into the black hole, that is. The vacuums' gravitational pull are so strong that we would be torn into pieces before we even get to go inside it.