How it works
An eclipse diagram, unlabeled, to print and fill in. Six lines run out from the solar eclipse at the top with nothing written at their ends, and the lunar eclipse drawn under it shows five of the same parts.
Read the full guide
Six names on the solar eclipse
Three lines start at the left. The top one stops on the Sun; the two that cross it run on to the Moon and to the narrow cone behind it, the umbra. On the right, the lines end in the wide wedge, the penumbra, on the spot where the cone touches the Earth, the path of totality, and on the Earth.
Five of them again on the lunar eclipse
The lower drawing has no lines. The Earth is in the middle and the Moon sits inside its shadow, so Sun, Earth, Moon, umbra and penumbra can be written straight on it. A path of totality cannot: a lunar eclipse is seen from all of Earth's night side.
- Word bank: Earth, Moon, path of totality, penumbra, Sun, umbra.
Questions and answers
What phase is the Moon in during an eclipse?
New moon for a solar eclipse, when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. Full moon for a lunar eclipse, when the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow.
Why is there not an eclipse every month?
The Moon's orbit is tilted about 5 degrees to the Earth's orbit, so at most new moons its shadow misses the Earth. The diagram leaves the tilt out and draws the three bodies in one straight line.
Is the eclipse diagram drawn to scale?
No. The Sun is about 400 times as wide as the Moon and about 400 times as far away, which is why the two look the same size in the sky. On the sheet the Sun is drawn far smaller and closer.
What is left off the unlabeled eclipse diagram?
The antumbra, the shadow beyond the tip of the umbra, where an annular eclipse is seen. The tilt of the Moon's orbit is left off too, and the Sun's rays are drawn but not asked.