Lunar Eclipses and Occultations

Abstract

Because the Moon is constantly in motion, it will, from time to time, grab the keen observer’s attention by involving itself in interesting celestial phenomena, total solar eclipses being the most obvious example. Because there are many good books on solar eclipses( including one in this series — Michael Maunder and Patrick Moore’s The Sun in Eclipse), and because total solar eclipses are events for solar rather than lunar observers, I shall discuss them no further here. But what of lunar eclipses? These phenomena, which are very pleasing to look at, also offer the amateur lunar observer the chance to do interesting scientific experiments. For some reason this aspect of lunar eclipses is often ignored. We shall try to do something about that in this chapter.