7 ms·

> Solar Eclipses are Virtual. They really do not exist. [..] Lunar Eclipses are real. They are actually happening of an event on the moon. During a lunar eclip

> Solar Eclipses are Virtual. They really do not exist. [..] Lunar Eclipses are real. They are actually happening of an event on the moon. During a lunar eclipse, the earth projects its shadow on the moon. During a Solar Eclipse, the moon projects its shadow on the earth. Only the shadow is smaller. I'm not sure what makes lunar eclipses more real.

kgwgk 7y ago
I think he means lunar eclipses do actually happen in the Moon (the Moon stops reflecting light) while solar eclipses happen only in Earth and not in the Sun (the Sun keeps emitting light as usual). What we call lunar eclipses are what the inhabitants of the Moon would call solar eclipses and what we call solar eclipse they would call Earth eclipses, if they used similar terminology.
svat 7y ago
This has been discussed in another thread, but to repeat myself in different words: - During a solar eclipse, something appears to change with the sun, but appearances are deceptive: all that a so-called "solar" eclipse means is that the observer happens to be in a small region a few miles across on earth; one can easily drive to a different place and see that the sun is unaffected and continues to shine as usual. Despite the name, a solar eclipse is really an event about a small patch of earth. - During a lunar eclipse, something appears to change with the moon, and this is right! The moon really does fall under shadow, something that's true wherever the observer may be. A lunar eclipse really corresponds to something happening on the moon. Of course if you define away the difference by saying that eclipses are only about a specific observer at a specific point on earth, there is no difference, but that's not the point being made.
- lisper 7y ago
  There really is a difference, but the words "real" and "virtual" are not the correct characterization of that difference. Solar eclipses are every bit as real as lunar ones. "Global" and "local" are more appropriate adjectives to describe the difference.
  - svat 7y ago
    Well, this is where we get into shades of meanings of words like “eclipse”, and what connotations those words carry to you. If you think of an eclipse as purely a visual phenomenon in the sky as seen from earth—if that's all the connotation that the word carries to you—then of course solar eclipses are every bit as real as lunar ones; as anyone can plainly see. It is similar if you think of the astronomical phenomena as simply “some body casts its shadow on some body”, and the terms “solar” and “lunar” are merely conventional labels attached to distinguish the different kinds. But it's possibly cultural what you think of as an “eclipse”. In Indian languages, the word from Sanskrit used is grahaṇa, which is from the verb for seizing, holding, catching, capturing, etc. So “solar eclipse” and “lunar eclipse” are literally “sun-capture” and “moon-capture”. Now from a very literal reading, neither of those is real: neither the sun nor the moon is really seized or captured anyway. But based on the connotation that I think most people have, we can say: * During a solar eclipse, you may think something's happening to the sun, but that's not real; that's only virtual. * During a lunar eclipse, you may think something's happening to the moon, and that's real. So I hope we can agree that there is something that's “real” during a lunar eclipse and not during a solar eclipse (namely, the corresponding named body being physically affected in some way); whether the word “eclipse” carries that connotation to you is of course something for only you to say.
    - lisper 7y ago
      > So I hope we can agree that there is something that's “real” during a lunar eclipse and not during a solar eclipse No. I understand what you're saying, but it is simply not true that nothing is happening to the sun during a solar eclipse. Something is happening to the sun: it is being blocked from your view by the moon. It is perfectly analogous to what happening to the moon during a lunar eclipse: it is being blocked from the sun's view by the earth. The situations are exactly the same except for two things: the scope, and the perspective of an earth-bound observer. But IMHO those differences are not nearly enough to warrant labeling one of those "real" and the other one "virtual". They are both equally real.
      - svat 7y ago

kgwgk 7y ago

I think he means lunar eclipses do actually happen in the Moon (the Moon stops reflecting light) while solar eclipses happen only in Earth and not in the Sun (the Sun keeps emitting light as usual). What we call lunar eclipses are what the inhabitants of the Moon would call solar eclipses and what we call solar eclipse they would call Earth eclipses, if they used similar terminology.

svat 7y ago

This has been discussed in another thread, but to repeat myself in different words: - During a solar eclipse, something appears to change with the sun, but appearances are deceptive: all that a so-called "solar" eclipse means is that the observer happens to be in a small region a few miles across on earth; one can easily drive to a different place and see that the sun is unaffected and continues to shine as usual. Despite the name, a solar eclipse is really an event about a small patch of earth. - During a lunar eclipse, something appears to change with the moon, and this is right! The moon really does fall under shadow, something that's true wherever the observer may be. A lunar eclipse really corresponds to something happening on the moon. Of course if you define away the difference by saying that eclipses are only about a specific observer at a specific point on earth, there is no difference, but that's not the point being made.

lisper 7y ago
There really is a difference, but the words "real" and "virtual" are not the correct characterization of that difference. Solar eclipses are every bit as real as lunar ones. "Global" and "local" are more appropriate adjectives to describe the difference.
- svat 7y ago
  Well, this is where we get into shades of meanings of words like “eclipse”, and what connotations those words carry to you. If you think of an eclipse as purely a visual phenomenon in the sky as seen from earth—if that's all the connotation that the word carries to you—then of course solar eclipses are every bit as real as lunar ones; as anyone can plainly see. It is similar if you think of the astronomical phenomena as simply “some body casts its shadow on some body”, and the terms “solar” and “lunar” are merely conventional labels attached to distinguish the different kinds. But it's possibly cultural what you think of as an “eclipse”. In Indian languages, the word from Sanskrit used is grahaṇa, which is from the verb for seizing, holding, catching, capturing, etc. So “solar eclipse” and “lunar eclipse” are literally “sun-capture” and “moon-capture”. Now from a very literal reading, neither of those is real: neither the sun nor the moon is really seized or captured anyway. But based on the connotation that I think most people have, we can say: * During a solar eclipse, you may think something's happening to the sun, but that's not real; that's only virtual. * During a lunar eclipse, you may think something's happening to the moon, and that's real. So I hope we can agree that there is something that's “real” during a lunar eclipse and not during a solar eclipse (namely, the corresponding named body being physically affected in some way); whether the word “eclipse” carries that connotation to you is of course something for only you to say.
  - lisper 7y ago
    > So I hope we can agree that there is something that's “real” during a lunar eclipse and not during a solar eclipse No. I understand what you're saying, but it is simply not true that nothing is happening to the sun during a solar eclipse. Something is happening to the sun: it is being blocked from your view by the moon. It is perfectly analogous to what happening to the moon during a lunar eclipse: it is being blocked from the sun's view by the earth. The situations are exactly the same except for two things: the scope, and the perspective of an earth-bound observer. But IMHO those differences are not nearly enough to warrant labeling one of those "real" and the other one "virtual". They are both equally real.
    - svat 7y ago