<http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080821.html>
These two beautiful picture was captured August 21, 2008. In this month the first New Moon and Full Moon were both seen in dark skies during a lunar and solar eclipse. An eclipse occurs when one object gets in between you and another object and blocks your view. From Earth, we can experience two kinds of eclipses: an eclipse of the Moon and an eclipse of the Sun. During a solar eclipse, the Moon actually casts two shadows toward Earth. One shadow is called the umbra which becomes smaller as it reaches the Earth. This is the dark center of the Moon's shadow. The second shadow is called the penumbra. This shadow becomes bigger as it gets closer to the Earth. When a total solar eclipse happens ,a complete blocking out of the Sun's light occurs and it can only be seen by those who live in the area covered by the umbra. People who live in the area of the Earth covered by the penumbra will see a partial eclipse.
A partial lunar eclipse is when only part of the Moon travels through the umbral shadow of the Earth. Depending on how much of the Moon passes through, you may or may not see this type of eclipse. A penumbral eclipse is when the Moon passes only through the penumbral shadow of the Earth.When a penumbral eclipse occurs, you wouldn't notice any darkening of the Moon unless you were in very dark skies and were looking for it. This a brief paragraph about what is happening in the pictures of above.
