Was the dark side of the moon facing the earth on the day of solar eclipse?

Question

Since some parts of the world (e.g. China) was into complete darkness for sometime on the day when the eclipse of the sun occurred; Was it because the dark side of the moon was facing the us (earth)? Why didn't the moon look like a moon on normal night? I mean usual white/silver moon... why was it dark?

Answer 1

Yes, the dark side of the Moon was facing the Earth on the day of the eclipse. We only see the Moon (aside from during a Solar eclipse) because it relects the light of the Sun. During a Solar eclipse, we see none of the illuminated side of the Moon because it is between the Earth and the Sun. We are facing the dark side at that time. We only see it because it is eclipsing the sun. We see a dark circular shape obscuring the Sun.

Answer 2

No, the eclipse did not occur "because the dark side of the moon was facing us".



A solar eclipse occurs because the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun. And, when that happens, the side of the Moon facing the Earth will be the side facing away from the Sun, and obviously that side of the Moon will be dark.



An eclipse does not occur because the dark side of the Moon is facing the Earth.



Oh, and by the way, the side of the Moon facing the Earth during a solar eclipse is the same side of the Moon that faces the Earth during a Full Moon.

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Answer 3

The eclipse is the moon's shadow traveling across the earth so it is not dark on earth because there is no light coming from the moon (even tho there isn't any light coming from the moon). It is dark because the suns' light is being blocked by the moon.



The "dark" side of the moon is really a misnomer. The moon rotates once on it's axis every time it orbits the earth so what we call the "dark" side is just the side that is always facing away from earth. In fact, the dark side gets the same amount of sunshine as the "light" side. When we see a full moon, the earth is between the moon and the sun (although not directly between, otherwise there would be a lunar eclipse because the earth's shadow would be blocking the sunshine hitting the moon) and the "dark" side is really dark. When we see just a tiny sliver of the moon, the "dark" side is getting almost all the sunshine. When we see "no moon" at all, that is when all the sunshine is on the "dark" side and, when that happens, we have a solar eclipse somewhere on earth.



hope this helps

Answer 4

Picture a baseball with a six foot string attached to it. You hold the other end of the string and whip it around the top of your head. If you keep looking at the baseball, you will only see the side that has the string attached as it goes round and round. This is what the moon does as it goes around earth.



And what this means is that we only ever see one side of the moon. We never can see the other side from earth. This other side has been referred to as the dark side of the moon. It should really be called "the far side of the moon" since it gets dark and light as the moon goes around the earth.



During the eclipse, the far side of the moon was fully lit up and near side (that we see) was full dark. This makes sense since the sun was on the other side of the moon. As a matter of fact, this happens every 27-28 days and is called a "new moon". However, the orbit of the moon around the earth does not follow the same path on it's plane. It's like a table that isn't level. The orbit path is sometimes higher on one side than the other, not much but enough (5 degrees).



The eclipse happens when the orbit "table" of the moon is "level" and the earth, sun and moon line up exactly which is what happened yesterday. This happens every few years however a partial eclipse, where the moon covers just part of the sun happens about twice a year.

Answer 5

1) A SOLAR eclipse would have to happen when the Sun is visible, so it MUST happen during the day time. But remember -- it is ALWAYS daytime SOMEWHERE on the earth. So the question is, will the eclipse occur WHEN AND WHERE >I< CAN SEE IT? 2) For a SOLAR eclipse (the moon passes in front of the sun) to occur, the moon and the sun must both be on the same "side" of the earth. When this happens it is called New Moon. Conversely, a LUNAR eclipse (the earth casts a shadow on the moon) occurs ONLY during a FULL MOON.

Answer 6

Yes, Solar eclipses only happen when the Moon is "new", so the unlit half is facing Earth, this happens every month on a new Moon. There is nothing unusual about it. The eclipse will only happen when there is alignment in the orbital planes, otherwise the new Moon passes just North or South of the Sun's disk.



Of course not to be confused with the "far" side as the far side is always the far side.

Answer 7

Well, the dark side will never face us (unless an asteroid or other celestial object makes it). And an eclipse happens because the moon gets in the way of the sun and blocks out most of the light. Most of the sun is blocked due to the fact that the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, yet 400 times closer to the Earth, which makes them look roughly the same size.

Answer 8

The dark side of the moon is only called so because the moon is tidally locked with Earth so the same side of the moon is always facing us. The "dark side" is the side we never see. The reason the moon was dark during the eclipse is because the moon itself is not a source of light. When you see a bright white moon in the sky it is because the moon is reflecting sunlight. During the eclipse, the side of the moon facing us was not receiving any direct sunlight because the sun was behind the moon.

Answer 9

Well, one reason that the moon did not look like the moon on a normal night is that it wasn't night. It was day.



Yes, to answer your question, the side of the moon that faces Earth was in complete darkness during the eclipse, just as it always is during any "new moon."



Maybe what you mean by "a normal night" is a night when the moon is full. The moon is full when the side that faces Earth is in full sunlight.

Answer 10

No the dark side of the moon never faces the Earth, if you want o see the back side of the Moon you will have to go to the moon and land on the back side that faces away from the Earth.

Answer 11

no, the moon faces the earth with the same side all the time

the eclipse occured because moon got exactly between earth and the sun

Answer 12

A solar eclipse is when the moon gets in between the earth and the sun. The moon doesn't rotate so no it wasn't facing the other way, it probably just seemed dull, could have been due to pollution or any number of things.

Answer 13

by definition, a solar eclipse occurs at new moon. it is night time on the side of the moon facing us.



there is no "dark side", except in the minds of scintific illiterates. the sun rises and set at all locations on teh moon.

Answer 14

because it was a new moon and u cant see the moon when its a new moon. Also the dark side of the moon is not darker than the other side. they call it that because its facing dark space