Exploring Eclipses

With an annular eclipse just weeks aways, we read a book about eclipses. I asked Aidyn what his hypothesis was for an eclipse to occur, and remarkably he mentioned that the shadow of the moon has to do something with it.

We learned that the one we will see is called an annular eclipse, which means it's ring-shaped.

To further understand how the small moon can "cover" the gigantic sun, we held a penny between our pointer finger and thumb and moved it across our line of sight. Objects such as the window (which is definitely larger than the coin) were obtructed by the penny. Now Aidyn has a real sense of how something so small could obstruct a much larger object: our relative distance.

Afterward, we read Under the Sun by Ellen Kandoian. This beautifully illustrated book gently examined the way our earth moves around the sun and how each living being shares the sun.