A Solar Eclipse on the Moon
There's going to be a marvelous solar eclipse on April 24th. One small problem: you have to fly to the Moon to see it.
NASA is planning to send people back to the Moon. Target date: 2015 or so. Too bad they won't be there this Sunday because, on April 24th, there's going to be a solar eclipse, and you can only see it from the Moon.
On Earth, solar eclipses happen when the Moon covers the Sun. On the Moon, the roles are reversed. It's Earth that covers the Sun. Such an eclipse is "a marvelous sight," according to Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean, who saw one in 1969. He was flying home from the Moon along with crewmates Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon when their spaceship flew through Earth's shadow. "Our home planet [eclipsed] our own star."
more here:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...htm?list134054
A Solar Eclipse on the Moon
