• Question: How long was the longest eclipse known to man?

    Asked by foggitje01 to Donna, Jo, Mark, timcraggs on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joanna Buckley

      Joanna Buckley answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Hiya foggitje01 🙂

      There are two types of eclipse. A lunar eclipse is an eclipse of the moon and occurs when the Earth passes between the moon and the Sun. A solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun.

      I found some stats for you…

      The longest a total solar eclipse was 7 minutes and 31 seconds and the longest lunar eclipse occurred on May 31 318 lasting 1 hour 47minutes and 14 seconds.

      On July 16 2186 there’s going to be a solar eclipse lasting 7 minutes and 29 seconds but I’ll be long gone to see that. I did see the total solar eclipse of 11 August 1999,. That was amazing 🙂

    • Photo: Tim Craggs

      Tim Craggs answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      What a good question!

      This wiki page has all the info you might want on Solar eclipses.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse

      Sorry, it is not my area of expertise!

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