What causes a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse?
Shadow Lineup Show
What causes a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse?
Two of the most dazzling tricks in the sky are pulled off by the same three players: the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon. They never touch. They just line up. And when they line up just so, the universe puts on a show called an eclipse.
Here's the secret behind every eclipse: anything lit by the Sun trails a shadow behind it, pointing away from the light. The Earth has one. The Moon has one too. Most of the time those shadows poke off harmlessly into empty space, hitting nothing at all.
