Description: An eclipse occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured by either passing into the shadow of another body or when another body passes between the viewer and the object. Examples for eclipses are lunar eclipses when the Earth stands between the Sun and the Moon and the Moon moves into the Earth´s shadow, or solar eclipses, when the Moon moves between the Earth and the Sun and blocks part or all of the Sun´s light. If the obscuring body only obscures a small part of other body, this phenomenon is called a transit. If the obscuring body completely obscures the other body, this phenomenon is called an occultation

Related Terms:

• Lunar Eclipse
• Solar Eclipse
• Transit
• Occultation
• Shadow

Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".