Eli5: shadows and solar eclipse

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During the solar eclipse most shadows reflect the crescent moon shape, why?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Imagine you have a bright flashlight, and you hold a round cookie in front of it. The light from the flashlight makes a shadow of the cookie on the wall. Now, if you move the cookie closer to the wall, the shadow becomes smaller and looks like a crescent.

During a solar eclipse, the Moon moves between the Sun and Earth, just like moving the cookie closer to the wall. The Moon’s round shape blocks some of the Sun’s light, and that’s why we see a crescent shadow on the Earth. It’s like the Moon is taking a bite out of the Sun’s light!

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