Had someone (not a flat earther but someone who questions everything) hold an egg up to a globe, and shine a light behind it. No matter the angle, the shadow would not get extremely smaller than the egg. How is a huge moon casting such a small dark shadow during the eclipse, specificallythe path of totality? I know there’s an explanation, but could you so I can go explain to him like he’s 1?
Thanks!!!
In: Planetary Science
The short answer is that by sheer coincidence, the sun and the moon appear the exact same size in our horizon. The sun is bigger but further away and the moon is closer but smaller. That ratio is such that they appear almost exactly the same size. Because if this, they have to line up perfectly for totality. If they are misaligned even slightly, the moon will not fully cover up the sun.
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