Solar And Lunar Eclipse Quiz: Test Your Knowledge!
Eclipses have amazed people for centuries, but how much do you really know about them? We’ve put together some tricky true-or-false statements about solar and lunar eclipses. No Googling allowed — just take your best guess! Browse through these questions, or take the interactive version of the quiz. Ready? Let’s begin!
Solar and lunar eclipses: true or false?
Eclipse test questions
Which of the following statements are true:
- The maximum number of solar eclipses that take place in a year is 4.
- The maximum number of lunar eclipses that take place in a year is 3.
- The maximum number of both lunar and solar eclipses in the same year is 7.
- An annular solar eclipse can never last more than 11 minutes.
- A total solar eclipse can never last more than 7 minutes and 31 seconds.
- Solar eclipses can only take place at the phase of the New Moon.
- Two solar eclipses may occur in one calendar month.
- The width of the zone of total solar eclipse visibility сan reach 1,200 km (770 mi), nearly the width of the U.S. state Texas.
- Total solar eclipses can be seen on Mars as well as on Earth.
- Total solar eclipses will end in a million years.
- The shadow of the Moon moves across Earth at a speed of no more than 1,800 km/h (1,118 mph).
- In 1973, a group of scientists observed the totality of the solar eclipse for more than an hour.
- Solar eclipses can be seen from the Moon.
- The first prediction of a solar eclipse was made long before our era.
- The general theory of relativity (GTR) has been officially confirmed due to a solar eclipse.
- The oldest video recording of a solar eclipse is less than 100 years old.
- Total solar eclipses can’t be seen from the North and South Poles.
- During a solar eclipse, some animals get confused and prepare for sleep.
- It can get quite cold when the Sun is fully eclipsed by the Moon.
- The corona — the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere — can be seen during a total solar eclipse.
Eclipse test answers (don't look before you answer!)
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It's false. There are between 2 and 5 solar eclipses every year. The last time 5 eclipses occurred in the same year was in 1935, and the next time will be in 2206.
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It's false. There are between 2 and 5 lunar eclipses every year. For instance, 5 lunar eclipses occurred in 1879 — four of them were penumbral and one partial.
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It's true. There can be either 2 lunar and 5 solar eclipses in the same year (e.g. in 1935), or 3 lunar and 4 solar eclipses (e.g. in 1917).
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It's false. For example, on January 15, 2010, an annular solar eclipse occurred. The maximum phase of that eclipse, when observed from the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, lasted 11 minutes and 8 seconds. The maximum duration for an annular eclipse is 12 minutes 30 seconds.
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It's true. On July 16, 2186, a total solar eclipse will occur. It will last 7 minutes 29 seconds, which is close to the maximum possible duration. The last total solar eclipse over 7 minutes was on June 30, 1973.
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It's true. Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between Earth and the Sun and fully or partially blocks the Sun.
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It's true. For instance, in 2000, eclipses occurred on July 1 and 31, in 1150 - on March 1 and 30.
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It's false. The maximum possible width of the full lunar shadow at total solar eclipse does not exceed 270 km (168 mi), while the width of the lunar penumbra is no more than 6750 km (4195 mi). The width of the zone of an annular solar eclipse visibility can reach 380 km (236 mi).
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It's false. Mars has two moons: Phobos and Deimos. Phobos is 150 times smaller than the moon in diameter and its orbital altitude is 65 times less than the orbital altitude of the moon. The sun as seen from Mars is only one and a half times less than from Earth. Thus, Phobos can cover no more than half of the solar disk. Deimos is almost 2 times smaller than Phobos and orbits much farther away from the red planet's surface.
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It's false. The moon is moving away from Earth at a rate of 3.8 centimetres per year. When the average radius of the lunar orbit increases by 23,410 km, the moon's apparent disk will be too small to cover the entire sun and total solar eclipses on Earth will no longer be possible. A simple calculation shows that the last total solar eclipse visible from the Earth’s surface will occur in more than 600 million years from now.
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It's false. The speed of the lunar shadow on the Earth’s surface is approximately equal to the difference between the orbital velocity of the Moon (1 km/s or 2,237 mph) and the linear velocity of a point on Earth's surface (which is maximum at the equator and is about 0.5 km/s or 1,118 mph). Thus, the minimum speed of the Moon’s shadow can be reached at the equator and is about 0.5 km/s (1,118 mph) or 1,800 km/h (1,118 mph).
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It's true. On June 30, 1973, a group of scientists aboard the British-French supersonic airliner Concorde followed the lunar shadow at an altitude of about 17 km and at a speed greater than 3200 km/h. In all, they observed the totality of the eclipse for 74 minutes. The longest duration of that solar eclipse, when seen from the Earth’s surface (West Africa), was 7 minutes 4 seconds.
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It's true. Solar eclipses on the Moon occur as often as lunar eclipses on Earth. When we experience a lunar eclipse, the Earth’s shadow falls on the moon and a solar eclipse occurs on the moon.
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It's true. The first prediction of an eclipse was made by Thales of Miletus (625–547 BC). Herodotus (484–425 BC) mentions this fact in his famous work called "The Histories" while talking about a five-year war between the Medes and the Lydians. It is estimated that the eclipse predicted by Thales of Miletus occurred on May 28, 584 BC.
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It's true. According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, when light travels in the vicinity of a massive object (like the Sun), it is bent by the object's gravity. Observing the solar eclipse оn May 29, 1919, two English astronomers confirmed the theory of relativity: they saw that the starlight around the Sun was curved by solar gravity. The light deflection value was totally consistent with Einstein's predictions.
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It's false. On May 28, 1900, British astronomer Nevil Maskelyne captured the first movie of a total solar eclipse in North Carolina which is now considered the oldest video recording of a solar eclipse. It has been recently restored in high resolution by the experts from the British Film Institute (BFI) National archive.
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It’s false. Total solar eclipses can occur anywhere on the Earth, and the poles are no exception. For example, the total solar eclipse that occurred on March 20, 2015, could be observed from the North Pole; the total solar eclipse that happened on December 4, 2021, could be seen from the South Pole.
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It’s true. For example, some species of spiders have been observed dismantling their webs when the sky goes dark and reassembling them right after the eclipse. Birds, fish, and other animals have been reported to head for their nighttime sleeping places during a solar eclipse.
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It’s true. As the Moon blocks the Sun’s radiation, the temperature in the areas inside the path of totality can drop significantly — by 10 or more degrees Celsius (18 or more degrees Fahrenheit).
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It’s true. The Sun’s corona is very dim, so we normally can’t see it. However, when the bright Sun’s disk is covered by the Moon, the corona becomes visible even to the naked eye.
Eclipse quiz results
So, how much did you score? Let’s count:
- 20-14: Eclipse Expert. 🌞 You've reached the apex of eclipse enlightenment! Keep your astronomy knowledge shining like the solar corona!
- 13-7: Eclipse Explorer. 🔍 You're on the right path, but there's more to discover!
- 6-0: Eclipse Noob. 👶 Your journey through the eclipse realm is just beginning. Keep learning!
Want to share this quiz with your friends? Check out the interactive version! Note that you’ll get a set of 8 questions at a time, so try it more than once for a full challenge. The more you play, the more you learn!
