LIGHT INTO DARK: Eclipses of the Sun and Moon

Discover what you can expect to see during 2015's solar eclipse and 2015 total lunar eclipse

Eclipses of the Sun and Moon are among the most awe-inspiring natural phenomena. Most spectacular of all are total solar eclipses, when the Sun’s brilliant disk is completely obscured for a few minutes, turning daytime into darkness and bringing into view its faint outer halo of gas, the corona. At lunar eclipses, the Moon turns blood red at night for an hour or more as it passes through the Earth’s shadow. In 2015, the biggest solar eclipse since 1999 will be visible from the UK on March 20, followed by a total lunar eclipse on September 28. Find out what causes these rare events, and what you can expect to see.

Ian Ridpath is an award-winning author, broadcaster and lecturer on astronomy and space with over 40 book titles to his name. He is editor of the prestigious Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy and of the world-famous Norton’s Star Atlas. In 2012 Ian received the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s Klumpke-Roberts Award for outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy, the most prestigious award of its kind. He is a member of the Royal Astronomical Society’s team of speakers on the Cunard liner Queen Mary 2 and is a former Council member of the RAS.

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