Sun, Earth, Moon, and the Shadows They Make

Hi, I'm Lumi! Let's talk about three big neighbors in space: the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon. Here is the most important idea. The Sun is a star, and stars make their own light, like a giant lamp. The Earth and the Moon do NOT make their own light. They only shine because sunlight bounces off of them, like how a mirror lights up when you point a flashlight at it. Now, light travels in straight lines. When something solid gets in the way, it blocks the light and makes a shadow behind it. You make a shadow on a sunny day because your body blocks the Sun! The Sun, Earth, and Moon are always moving. Sometimes they line up in a straight row. When they do, one of them can block the Sun's light and drop a shadow on another. We call this an eclipse. In a solar eclipse, the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth. The Moon's shadow lands on a small part of Earth, so the daytime sky turns dark for a little while. In a lunar eclipse, the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon. Now Earth's shadow lands on the Moon, so the full Moon looks dim and sometimes turns reddish — that reddish color happens in a total lunar eclipse, when sunlight bends around Earth's edges and washes the Moon in a warm glow. If you ever get mixed up, just ask: whose shadow is falling, and on what? That always tells you which eclipse it is. You've got this!