The number of dwarf planets in our solar system.The unit of distance that represents the distance between the Earth and Sun.The direction all planets orbit the sun.Another name for shooting stars – rocks that burn up in our atmosphere.The planet with the widest temperature range.Streams of gases that fall back to the sun, often along magnetic field lines.Venus is the _ planet (temperature wise).The only other planet to have had a water cycle and evidence of possible life.The layer of the sun where energy travels out in waves.The point on an orbit farthest from the sun.A comets tail always points _ from the sun.Dark areas on the sun that are caused by an increased magnetic field.This model of the solar system shows the Earth at the center.This scientist was the first to publish the heliocentric model.Space rocks that strike the Earth’s surface.Another term for gas giant or Jovian planets.The percent of the solar systems mass that is made up by the sun.The stream of energized gases emitted by the sun that travels throughout the solar system.The planet that is sometimes further from the sun than Pluto.The layer of the sun that can only be seen during an eclipse.Planet often considered to be Earth’s twin.Irregularly shaped planetary bodies found between Mars and Jupiter.The astronomer discovered 4 of Jupiter’s moons and that Venus has phases.The dwarf planet with a 17 degree tilted orbit.Abbreviation for large eruptions of gasses that take a few days to reach Earth.This model of the solar system shows the sun at the center.The only asteroid large enough to be considered a dwarf planet.The coolest part and visible surface of the sun.This is an apparent motion of planets moving back and forth in the night sky.However, you don't need a spaceship to see it. Earth's Penumbra Causes Penumbral Lunar EclipsesLike the Moon, the Earth always casts a penumbra into space. ![]() On Earth, however, where the Sun and the Moon look as if they were roughly the same size, that journey would be much longer.During most eclipses, the region covered by the penumbra is even further enlarged by the fact that in most locations the Sun does not appear in the zenith position (straight above), so its rays hit the Earth's surface at a shallower angle. From the spaceship hovering just a few miles above the lunar surface, the Moon appears much larger than the Sun, so you would have to travel a relatively short distance to cross the penumbral area, where the Sun appears partly eclipsed. In contrast, you typically only have to move about 100 km (60 mi) across the Earth's surface to reach penumbral territory from the umbra's center.In contrast, the area where the Sun appears partly eclipsed increases in size as you move away from the Moon. ![]() This results in a roughly V-shaped umbra (see illustration).Imagine the distance you would have to travel in a spaceship in lunar orbit to reach the umbra's edge from its center – it would be a journey spanning thousands of miles. ![]() With growing distance from the Moon, the diameter of its umbra decreases as the Moon appears to diminish in size. Size Increases With DistanceThe reason why the penumbra is so much larger has to do with the distance of the Moon from Earth and the fact that the Moon is smaller than the Sun. This means that partial solar eclipses occur much more often in any one location than total solar eclipses.For example, at the maximum point of the, the penumbral shadow will span from northern Colombia all the way to Alaska and Greenland, covering North America, Central America, most of the Caribbean, and large parts of the northern polar regions. How Large Is the Moon's Penumbra?The Moon's umbra and penumbra during a total solar eclipse.While the Moon's umbra only covers a very small area of Earth at most, the penumbra can envelop whole continents and oceans. This means that much more sunlight passes through, making for a very light, and sometimes unnoticeable, shadow. On the other hand, in the outskirts of the areas covered by the penumbra, the Moon barely touches the Sun's disk. This means that only a small portion of the Sun's rays reach us, causing a dark penumbral shadow.
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