Full moon,lunar eclipse the same?

Question

thats what i think i just read on wikipedia =P

i really like how the full moon looks.and i didnt know it happened when the sun,moon and earth are all aligned!

wonderful.

Answer 1

no full moon is wen u an see the whole thing and it is a perfect circle. lunur eclipse is when u cant see the moon cause there in no replection form the sun. the earth gets between the sun and the moon perfectly. plz answer my q. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 2

A lunar eclipse will only happen when the moon is full.  The full moon is when the sun is on the opposite side of the earth.  Sometimes the earth's shadow crosses the moon as it comes between the moon and the sun.

Answer 3

nope, its the opposite. when the moon cannot be seen at all. the earths shadow makes the moon not visible.

make it a good day

Answer 4

Not quite.  There is an important difference.

A Full Moon is when the Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky as seen from Earth.  Now if it was EXACTLY opposite (180 degrees) then indeed the Sun, Earth and Moon would all be in a line and there would be a lunar eclipse.  However, the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted a bit (5 degrees) relative to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun so every month, when the Moon is approximately opposite the Sun in the sky, it may be a bit higher or lower than the Sun-Earth line.  There won't be an eclipse then but the Moon will appear fully illuminated to us so we'll still call it a Full Moon.

In last weekend's lunar eclipse the Moon didn't quite pass through the 180 degree point, it was a little off.  Part of it dipped into the full shadow of the Earth and all of it was inside the wider penumbra caused by Earth's atmosphere and the fact that the Sun is an extended light source.

Answer 5

If the Moon's orbit were not tilted 5 degrees then there would be an eclipse of the Moon every full Moon and an eclipose of the Sun every month 2 weeks after the full Moon. But since the Moon's orbit is tilted, it usually misses the exact alignment needed for an eclipse.

Answer 6

The Full Moon and a Lunar eclipse are not the same thing.  The Full moon happens about every 28 days and is when you can see the entire orb of the moon.  A Lunar eclipse happens only when the Earth is passing between the Sun and the Moon and you can watch as the Earths shadow moves across until it completely blocks the reflected light of the Moon from reaching us.  The shadow continues on as the Moon moves out of Earth's shadow.  This only occurs during a Full Moon, but not during every Full Moon.

"A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, there is always a full moon the night of a lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes. The next total lunar eclipse occurs on December 21, 2010."

Answer 7

No there not.  Since the moon's orbit is angled (5 degrees) with respect to the earth we see the moon in phases (new, half, full) and full is when the suns rays are hitting one side straight on from our perspective.  A lunar eclipse happens when the moon's orbit lines up with the earth and the sun.  Light from the sun passes through the outer edges of the earth's atmosphere partially illuminating the moon but only in red wavelengths (hence the term blood moon for a lunar eclipse).  The only thing they have in common is a lunar eclipse can only occur during what would normally have been a full moon.

Answer 8

All lunar eclipses happen during full moons, but not all full moons produce lunar eclipses. A full moon happens when the moon's orbit takes it to the side of the earth opposite the sun, where the earth's shadow is. However, the moon's orbit is inclined slightly, so most of the time, the moon passes "above" or "below" the shadow (technically north or south of the shadow, but I find using above and below makes it easier to imagine the moon's path across the night sky.) As a result, during most full moons, the moon appears just a tiny bit less than 100% illuminated since it's not quite directly opposite the sun. (It's never enough to notice the difference though.) Only when the moon passes through the shadow will there be an eclipse.