eclipse
)
eclipse
The total or partial obscuration of light from a celestial body as it passes through the shadow of another body. A planetary satellite is eclipsed when it passes through the shadow of its primary or another satellite. An eclipse of the Sun is strictly an occultation.An eclipse of the Sun – a solar eclipse – or the Moon – a lunar eclipse – occurs when the Sun, Moon, and Earth lie in or nearly in a straight line: see illustration (a). If the plane of the Moon's orbit lay exactly in the plane of the ecliptic a solar eclipse would take place at each new Moon and a lunar eclipse at each full Moon. The two planes are however inclined at an angle of about 5°, intersecting at the nodes of the Moon's orbit. Eclipses are only observed when the Sun is at or near a node and the Moon is near the same node (solar eclipse) or the opposite one (lunar eclipse). The ecliptic limits are the maximum angular distances of the new or full Moon from its node for an eclipse to take place.
Although the Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun, it is also about 400 times nearer the Earth. As a result, Sun and Moon have almost exactly the same angular size (about ½°), so that it is possible for the Moon to obscure the Sun. The Earth and Moon both cast shadows in sunlight, the shadow having a dark cone-shaped inner region – the umbra – and an outer lighter penumbral region. A solar eclipse occurs, between sunrise and sunset at new Moon, when the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun so that the Earth lies in the Moon's shadow: see illustration (b). When the Moon is sufficiently close to Earth so that its apparent diameter exceeds that of the Sun, then the umbra of the Moon's shadow can just reach the Earth's surface. It moves in a general west to east trend over a very narrow curved zone of the surface, known as the path of totality, which can be up to 250 km wide but averages about 160 km. An observer at a point where only the penumbra will move past sees a partial eclipse, in which only part of the Sun is obscured. An observer in the path of totality will experience a total eclipse, in which the Sun is completely obscured. If the Moon is far enough away to appear smaller than the Sun, a rim (or annulus) of light will be seen around the eclipsed Sun and an annular eclipse occurs. The period of annularity never exceeds 12.5 minutes and is normally much less.
In a total solar eclipse, first contact occurs when the Moon just appears to touch the Sun's western limb. As the Moon gradually covers the Sun, the landscape darkens and animals become disturbed. Totality begins at second contact when the Sun disappears from sight. The maximum duration of totality is 7m 31s but is usually much less. Totality ends at third contact, just as the crescent Sun emerges, and at fourth contact the whole disk of the Sun is once more seen. The time between first and last contact can approach four hours. During totality the chromosphere, corona, and other phenomena can be observed and studied. There are between two and five solar eclipses each year. Total eclipses are, however, very rare at any particular place.
A lunar eclipse occurs, at full Moon, when the Moon passes into the shadow cone of the Earth. It can be seen from any place at which the Moon is visible above the horizon. A total eclipse occurs when the Moon enters completely into the umbra of the Earth's shadow. If only part of the Moon enters the umbra the eclipse is partial. When the Moon only enters the penumbral region, a penumbral eclipse takes place in which a slight, usually quite unappreciable darkening of the Moon's surface occurs. The maximum duration of totality is 1h 47m. The Moon can usually be seen throughout totality, being illuminated by sunlight refracted by the Earth's atmosphere into the shadow area. Since the bluer wavelengths are removed by scattering, the Moon has a coppery-red color. There are up to either two or three lunar eclipses each year. Up to seven eclipses can occur in one year, either five solar and two lunar or four solar and three lunar.
See also saros.
Eclipse
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)An eclipse is the full or partial obscuring of the Sun by the Moon (a solar eclipse), or the full or partial obscuring of the Moon by the Sun (a lunar eclipse). When planets and stars are obscured by another celestial body (particularly by the Moon), it is called an occultation. The orbits of the Sun and Moon intersect, but are not parallel; if they were parallel, a solar eclipse would occur during every new moon and a lunar eclipse every full moon. Eclipses can occur only when the Sun and Moon intersect the lunar nodes.
Traditionally, the influence of eclipses, whether full or partial, has been regarded as negative, portending famine, war, and the like. Also, with respect to individual natal charts, the traditional interpretation is that an eclipse exerts a malefic influence, particularly if it falls on or near (within 5° of) a natal planet or an angle. Contemporary astrologers tend to see eclipses as indicating emphasis or a crisis in the affairs related to the house in which the eclipse occurs. For instance, should an eclipse occur in a person’s second house, she or he may be compelled to attend to financial matters. Should the eclipse occur near (within 5° of) a natal planet or be directly opposed to (180° away from, give or take 5°) a natal planet, the crisis will be a major one and will be colored by the nature of the planet or planets involved.
Sources:
What does it mean when you dream about an eclipse?
The sun is often taken to represent the conscious, rational self and the moon, the subconscious, emotional self. Their union in an eclipse may signify a coming together of separate parts of oneself (self-integration). It may also stand for the “eclipsing” of reason or consciousness by emotion or the subconscious (in a solar eclipse), or vice versa (in a lunar eclipse). We sometimes speak of being “eclipsed,” and this may also be the meaning of a dream about eclipses.
eclipse
[i′klips]eclipse
ECLIPSE
Eclipse
(1) An open source integrated development environment (IDE) from the Eclipse Foundation. Running under Windows, Mac and Linux, Eclipse is widely used to write Java programs; however, plugins customize Eclipse for more than two dozen other programming languages. In 2001, IBM started the Eclipse consortium, and three years later, it was spun off as an independent foundation. For more information, visit www.eclipse.org. See NetBeans.(2) (ECLIPSE) An early series of 32-bit minicomputers from Data General. The development of the initial 32-bit ECLIPSE MV/8000 was the subject of Tracy Kidder's best-selling book, "Soul of a New Machine" published in 1981 by Little, Brown and Company.