When the Sun and the Moon hit each other in the sky, why don't they blow up?

Question

There was another eclipse yesterday, but the Sun and the Moon went THROUGH each other. How does this happen?

Answer 1

The don't actually hit each other during an eclipse. The sun is much farther away from the earth than the moon.

Generally the moon just passes over the area in the sky that the sun is in during an eclipse. Both staying miles away from one another.

Answer 2

the sun and moon CANT hit each other, its impossible.

Answer 3

They're at least a couple of miles apart.

Answer 4

Seeing that a previous answer you gave was that you considered Obama an alien, then you will understand my answer now.

The Moon does hit the Sun, but because the Sun is liquid on the surface, the Moon is absorbed as it splashes onto the surface, then slides across and off the surface to be in space again.

Answer 5

They just so happened to line up, with the Moon in front of the Sun.  But they were still separated from each other by about 93 million miles.  

Answer 6

They don't hit each other. It's the shadow you see

Answer 7

You may have noticed that the Sun went behind the Moon, leading to the shadow across the Earth.

Answer 8

troll

Answer 9

The moon went between the Earth and the Sun. Not through it.

Answer 10

Your view is from the Earth...

Distance from Earth to the Moon...roughly 239,000 Miles.

Distance from Earth to the Sun...roughly 93,000,000 Miles.

Chances of the Moon hitting the Sun are kind of remote I think. It looks like a miss factor of more than 92,000,000 MILES.

Answer 11

Funny. But just in case you were curious the Sun is roughly 93,000,000 miles from Earth and the Moon averages about 246,000 miles from Earth.  93 million divided by 246,000 = 378.

As chance would have it the Sun is 378 times the size of the Moon.

So both appear to be the same size.

But I like your theory better. Maybe they morph into one planet and then split minutes later.

Answer 12

Oh... The Sun and the Moon cant and never will ( i hope ) hit each other in the sky. This is because they are SO far apart around 6 and a half light minutes. Lights travel 300 000 km/p . What you saw was the eclipse

where the moon is BLOCKING not GOING THROUGH the Sun.  

Answer 13

The sun and moon came nowhere near each other. The moon is about 93,000,000 miles from the sun at all times, as is the Earth. What happened yesterday was simply the moon lining up with the sun and Earth, causing the eclipse.

Answer 14

this might shock you, but there are actually THREE dimensions of space, not just two. you might think that the sun and moon are the same distance from earth, but you'd be wrong.

Answer 15

You've been hit by too many hockey pucks Billy. Start wearing a helmet.

Answer 16

Optical illusion. It just looked that way.

A solar eclipse happens when the moon moves in front of the sun as seen from a location on Earth. During a solar eclipse it gets dimer outside as more of the sun is covered by the moon. During a total eclipse, the entire sun is covered for a few minutes and it becomes very dark outside.

About the blowing up concern: The Sun is already doing a slow-motion explosion. It is shedding about 600 million tons every second in light energy, and it is loosing about 100 trillionth of its mass every year in the so-called solar wind.

Answer 17

they don't hit each other. they are thousands and thousands of miles apart. the moon is closer to earth, and it comes in front of the sun, blocking the rays of the sun.

IF they did hit each other, the sun is so much larger than the moon ( not to mention hotter) the sun would swallow the moon - and the moon would not come out again.

Answer 18

get your facts right - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclip...

Answer 19

Um. This question is based in a complete misunderstanding of the mechanics of planetary movement. Did you sleep through high school science class?  

Answer 20

The sun and the moon didn't have any physical contact whatsoever. The sun was 8 light minutes away from the moon at the time... like it always is. If the moon came within a few hundred miles, or even a few thousand miles of the sun, it would denigrate.

A solar eclipse is where the moon is directly in front of the sun, and its shadow is casted onto Earth. The moon just moves in front of the sun, not towards it. If the sun were that close to Earth, we would burn up, the moon would burn up, and the sun would fill up the entire sky.

Answer 21

no one is that stupid