Can a solar eclipse happen at night?

Question by Elfie: Can a solar eclipse happen at night?
I know that a solar eclipse is when the moon passes in front of the sun, so does that mean a solar eclipse cannot happen at night? Can a lunar eclipse happen at night?


Best answer:
Answer by campbelp2002Yes, because half of Earth is in night all the time. But which half changes all the time. So during every eclipse it is night somewhere on Earth and daytime somewhere else on Earth. The same with a lunar eclipse.

Add your own answer in the comments!







Dedicated to Mars Society of which I am a member If viewed from the surface of Mars near its equator, full Phobos looks about one third as big as the Earth's full moon from Earth. It has an angular diameter of between 8' (rising) and 12' (overhead). It would look smaller when the observer is further away from the Martian equator, and is completely invisible (always beyond the horizon) from Mars' polar ice caps. Deimos looks more like a bright star or planet for an observer on Mars, only slightly bigger than Venus looks from Earth; it has an angular diameter of about 2'. The Sun's angular diameter as seen from Mars, by contrast, is about 21'. Thus there are no total solar eclipses on Mars, as the moons are far too small to completely cover the Sun. On the other hand, total lunar eclipses of Phobos are very common, happening almost every night. See also Transit of Phobos from Mars and Transit of Deimos from Mars for eclipse-like events. The motions of Phobos and Deimos would appear very different from that of our own Moon. Speedy Phobos rises in the west, sets in the east, and rises again in just eleven hours, while Deimos, being only just outside synchronous orbit, rises as expected in the east but very slowly. Despite its 30 hour orbit, it takes 2.7 days to set in the west as it slowly falls behind the rotation of Mars, and has long again to rise. Due to the small size of Phobos (22.2 Km) and its rapid orbital motion, an observer on the surface of Mars would never ...

Total Solar Eclipse | Solar Eclipse Information