Corey S PowellApr 3, 2024

Only three humans have ever witnessed an eclipse of the Sun by the *Earth*. It happened while the Apollo 12 crew was returning home from the Moon, on November 21, 1969.

Fortunately, the astronauts filmed the moment so you can share in the experience.

https://archive.org/details/Apollo1216mmOnboardFilm [at the 4:50 mark] #space #science #nasa #eclipse

APOLLO 12 16MM ONBOARD FILM : NASA/Johnson Space Center : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Film taken includes a solar eclipse, Charles Conrad and Alan Bean on lunar surface, and scenes of Lunar Module (LM) during lunar orbital rendezvouz and...

Internet Archive
Show threadTofu GolemApr 3, 2024
@coreyspowell
Technically, we all witness that every night.
Show threadCorey S PowellApr 3, 2024

@tofugolem

Hmmm...I feel like there's a reason why we have different words for sunset and eclipse, and why people throughout history have regarded them as completely different things.

Show threadTofu GolemApr 3, 2024

@coreyspowell
At night, the Earth is between you and the Sun.

The only thing different between that and what is in the above video is how close the observer is to the Earth.

A cloud coming between the observer and the Sun would be a completely different kind of occlusion.

Show threadCorey S PowellApr 4, 2024
@tofugolem True, in the same sense that an ocean is just a really big puddle.
Show threadTofu Golem

@coreyspowell
You seem really hung up on this.

The sizes are all the same, so your analogy doesn't work in my (admittedly biased) opinion.

The only difference is the distance between the observer and the occluding object. I would say that's a small difference.

Apr 4, 2024 at 3:21pmWeb
Show threadCorey S PowellApr 4, 2024
@tofugolem OK, since this matters so much to you, sunsets and eclipses are the same thing. Done.
Show threadTofu GolemApr 4, 2024
@coreyspowell
Nighttime and eclipses.