I know it takes like 8 minutes for sunlight to reach earth, so does that mean that we experience the eclipse 8 minutes after it happens? I understand that the moon isn’t nearly as far so it’s probably more of just the moon going in front of it, but it confuses me because we still see the ray of sunlight around the moon at totality, so is that light “8 minutes old”?
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Yes, the light is still “8 minutes old” but the eclipse starts when the moon comes between the earth and the sun, not when the photons leave the sun. At the time the light leaves the sun, the moon may not yet be blocking its path, but by the time the light gets there, the moon may be in the way.
The moon is only about 1.2 light-seconds away from the earth, so that’s the actual delay between when the eclipse happens and when you see it.
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