Do you know about solar eclipses? 🌒

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Speaker 1: You're listening to sleep Tight Science. Did you know that the Moon's shadow races across the Earth's surface at super speeds of up to one thousand, seven hundred kilometers per hour about one fifty six miles per hour. What. That's even faster than the speed of sound. Hello, friends, and welcome back to sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers your questions about science. Did you know that on April eighth, twenty two, twenty four, North America will witness a total solar eclipse as it travels across Mexico, the United States, and Canada. This occurs when the Moon moves directly between the Earth and the Sun, fully covering the Sun's face. As this happens, the sky will turn dark, mimicking the light of early morning or late evening. Eclipses are really special because they don't happen all the time and you need to be in the right place on Earth to see them. We will experience it where we live at about four forty PM and are very excited. According to NASA, the next total solar eclipse will occur on August twelfth, twenty twenty six, visible in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and a small portion of Portugal. In Canada, the next time a solar eclipse will be visible will be in twenty thirty nine, when the path of totality passes through the northern part of the Yukon. But what is a solar eclipse? A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, temporarily blocking the Sun's light from reaching us. This can turn day into night, cool the air, and reveal the Sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona, which is usually invisible to the naked eye. To understand how a solar eclipse happens, we need to look at the mechanics of our solar system. The Earth orbits around the Sun, and the Moon orbits around the Earth. While these orbits are happening, there are moments when the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun a line or line up perfectly. When the Moon positions itself directly between the Sun and the Earth, it casts a shadow on the Earth's surface. This shadow is what we experience as a solar eclipse. Put another way, the Earth is like a big ball that spins around the Sun, and the Moon dances around the Earth. Every now and then, the Moon the Earth and the Sun line up perfectly. When the Moon gets right in the middle, it blocks the Sun's light from reaching us, causing a solar eclipse. During an eclipse, two shadows are cast. The first is called the umbra. This shadow gets smaller as it goes away from the Sun. It is the dark center of the eclipse shadow. The second shadow is called the panumbra. The panumbra gets larger as it goes away from the Sun. The umbra, the inner, darker part of the shadow, is where the Sun is completely blocked by the moon. Observers in the path of the umbra experience a total solar eclipse, turning the day into a brief night. The sky darkens significantly, stars and planets become visible, and the temperature drops. The corona, a halo of plasma that surrounds the Sun, becomes visible, displaying a beautiful glow. The panumbra is the outer part of the Moon's shadow, where the Sun is only partially obscured. Observers in this area see a partial solar eclipse, during which the Sun appears as if a bite has been taken out of it. The effect is less dramatic than a total eclipse. The reason we don't experience a solar eclipse every month, even though the Moon orbits the Earth monthly, is due to the tilt of the Moon's orbit. The Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted, leaning about five degrees to the Earth's orbit around the Sun. This means that the Moon usually passes above or below the Sun. From our perspective on Earth, a solar eclipse occurs only when the orbits line up just right and the Moon is near one of its two crossing points with the Earth's orbital plane. As nodes, solar eclipses can only occur during a new moon, when the Moon is between Earth and the Sun. However, not every new moon results in a solar eclipse. The precise alignment necessary for an eclipse happens just a few times a year. A total solar eclipse goes through several unique stages. It begins with a partial eclipse phase, where the Moon starts to move in front of the Sun, partially covering it and creating a crescent shape. Then comes Bailey's beads fase, where the Sun's light peaks around the jagged edges of the Moon due to its uneven surface, creating a string of bright spots. Following this, the diamond ring phase occurs when a single bright point of light shines beside the Moon while the Sun's atmosphere forms a glowing circle around it, looking much like a sparkling diamond ring. This stunning visual signals the approach of totality after the moment of total eclipse. These stages happen in reverse as the Moon continues on its path leading up to the end of the eclipse. Eclipses are really special because they don't happen all the time and you need to be in the right place on Earth to see them. Solar eclipses have fascinated us for millennia, inspiring awe, fear, and curiosity. Ancient civilizations often interpret it eclipses as old romans or messages from the gods. Today, solar eclipses continue to attract attention from scientists and the public alike, offering opportunities for scientific study, photography, and personal reflection. You might want to listen to our episode called Our Solar System to learn more about the Solar system. Experiencing a solar eclipse can be super exciting, but you have to be very careful not to hurt your eyes. The sun is incredibly bright, even when partly hidden by the moon. If you look at it with without protection, the strong sunlight can damage your eyes and you might not even feel it happening. So how can you watch a solar eclipse without hurting your eyes? Here are some safe ways. You can use special eclipse glasses. These aren't your regular sunglasses. They're super special glasses made just for looking at the sun. They have a special film that blocks out the harmful rays so you can look at the eclipse safely. You can use a pin hole projector. This is a fun DIY project and one we are going to try. You and your family can make a simple pin hole projector with just two pieces of card. Make a tiny hole in one piece, then let the sun shine through that hole onto the second piece of card. See a mini eclipse happening right on your card. You can use a colander. If you have a colander in the kitchen, you can use it to see the eclipse. A colander is a kitchen tool that looks a bit like a bowl with lots of little holes in it. People use a colander to rinse fruits and vegetables under water, or drain water from things like pasta or cooked vegetables after boiling them. Hold the colander up to the sun during the eclipse and you'll see lots of little crescent suns projected onto the ground or a wall. Remember never look at the sun directly with a telescope, binoculars, or camera unless they have special solar filters. Even with eclipse glasses, you should only take quick glances at the Sun, not stare at it for a long time. Did you know the sun is actually white When we look at it from Earth. The atmosphere scatters the light, making the Sun appear yellow, but if you saw it from space, it would look dazzling white. Now for some listener questions. Our first question is from Adeline Harmon, who is seven years old and lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Adeline wants to know how the Northern lights appear. The Northern lights, also known as the Aurora borealis, are a magical light show in the sky that can be seen most easily near the north pole. They look like big curtains made of light, gently waving back and forth. These lights can be green, pink, purple, blue, and sometimes even red. They can look like soft, glowing clouds or sharp streaks of color that light up the night. Here's how the beautiful spectacle happens. The Sun sends out a stream of charged particles like an invisible wind blowing through space. This wind is called the solar wind. When it reaches Earth, it bumps into our planet's magnetic field, which is like an invisible shield that protects us. The Earth's magnetic field has weak spots near the poles, so some of the charged particles from the Sun can sneak through there. When these particles hit the gases in our atmosphere, they light up, just like a neon sign. Different gases light up in different colors. Oxygen gives us greens and reds, while nitrogen can make and purples. The Northern lights usually happen in a ring shaped zone around the north pole, but when there's a lot of solar activity, they can be seen farther south than usual. So the Northern lights are a bit like a natural light show put on by the Earth and the Sun, and they're one of the most beautiful things you can see in the sky. Thank you for the question, Adeline. Our next question is from Nate, who is seven years old. Nate asks why is lightning so hot. Lightning is super hot because it's a powerful electric current racing from the clouds to the ground or sometimes inside the clouds. When this electric current zaps through the air, it heats the air up very very quickly. This happens because the electric current is so strong and fast that the air doesn't have time to move out of the way, so it gets squeezed and heated up to about twenty thousand to thirty thousand degrees celsius. That's thirty six thousand to fifty four thousand degrees fahrenheit, hotter than the surface of the sun. When the air heats up so much and so fast, it creates a bright flash of light, which we see as lightning. The superheated air expands explosively, which we hear as thunder. So lightning is hot because of the intense electric energy passing through the air, heating it up to incredible temperatures in the blink of an eye. Thank you for the question, Nate, did you know that rainbows are circular? We usually see rainbows as arches, but they're actually full circles. The ground usually blocks the bottom half, so we don't see it. You might be lucky enough to see a rainbow's full circle if you are high enough, like in an airplane. Our last question comes from Isaiah, who is six years old and from Texas. Isaiah asks why is the sky blue. The sky is blue because of something called scattering. When sunlight reaches the earth, it has to pass through the air in our atmosphere. Sunlight might look white, but it's actually made up of all the colors of the rainbow mixed together. As sunlight comes down, it bumps into the tiny bits of air and water in the atmosphere. Different colors in the sunlight have different energies and scatter in different ways. Blue light has shorter waves and more energy, so it gets bumped and scattered all around the sky by the air. This scattering sends blue light everywhere, and when we look up, that's the color we see. The other colors like red and yellow, have longer waves and don't get scattered as much in the lower atmosphere, so they keep going straight. That's why the sky isn't red or yellow during the day. But at sunrise and sunset, the light has to travel through more air to reach your eyes, making the blue and green light scatter out even more, leaving the reds and oranges for us to see. That's why sunsets are red and orange, not blue. So the sky is blue because the blue light from the sun gets scattered in all directions by the air, our atmosphere, and that's what reaches our eyes the most. Thank you for the question, Isaiah. Now for some fun facts. Did you know the moon is not perfectly round. It's actually shaped a bit like an egg, with one end slightly flattened and the other more pointed. This is because of the gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon. Did you know the Sun is so big that about one point three million earths could fit inside it. If the Sun were a hollow ball, you could neatly pack all those earths inside then still have room for more. Did you know some satellites are really small. There are cube sacts, which are tiny satellites as small as a loaf of bread. That's pretty small. Despite their size, they can do serious science, test new technologies, and even teach students about space. Did you know the Moon is slowly moving away from the Earth. Each year, it drifts about three point eight centimeters about one point five inches further away. This means that very very slowly, the moon is getting farther from us. And for something different, did you know that the world's largest chocolate chip cookie weighed as much as an elephant? In two thousand and three, the Immaculate Baking Company in South Carolina baked a cookie that was one hundred and two feet wide and weighed over forty thousand pounds. That's a big cookie. Do you think you would want to eat it? In this episode, we learned a little about solar eclipses. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, temporarily blocking the Sun's light from reaching us. This can turn day and to night, cool the air, and reveal the Sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona, which is usually invisible to the naked eye. Two shadows are cast when there is a solar eclipse. The first, the inner shadow, is called the umbra, and the second, the outer shadow, is called the panumbra. There are safe ways to look at a solar eclipse, but you should never stare at the sun. There are special eclipse glasses, or you could make a pinhole projector or use a callander to reflect it on your wall or floor. We had questions from Adeline Harmon who wanted to know how the northern lights appear, Nate who asked why is lightning so hot? And Isaiah who asked why is the sky blue? Thank you to Jesse who is four years old, Liam Max Christensen who is four and a half years old and lives on the North Island of New Zealand, Alblow in Scotland who is five years old, Sophia Harmon five years old, and Amelia Harmon seven years old. The Thompsons in Manhattan Beach, California. Harrison Grice in Germany, Caleb Nelson case age eight, Jesse who is four years old from Brazil, Rohan who is four years old from Maryland, Elizabeth from San Enselmo, California, who is five years old, Holland from White House, Texas, Emily Abigail Claire who is five years old in Lubbock, Texas, and Zara. We would love to get your feedback on our show. If you have any feedback, please send it our way. If you want to make sure you get all the episodes, please ask your parents to subscribe. You can find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever your parents listen to podcasts. If you love learning about science with us. Please leave us a review. It may help others find our show. If you'd like to send us your questions, please send them to Hello at sleep tightscience dot com sleep tight