A star-gazing expert from the University of Surrey has spoken about next Friday's (March 20) total solar eclipse which will plunge Surrey and north-east Hampshire into darkness. <\/p>\n
Astro-physics professor Mark Gieles has talked about the science and history behind the natural phenomenon. <\/p>\n
He has worked as a research fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Chile and as a support astronomer on the Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal in the Atacama desert. <\/p>\n
Prof Gieles explained how because of a \"freak coincidence\" the sun and moon occupy the same sized space in our sky. <\/p>\n
The celestial anomaly is a result of the sun's diameter being 40x bigger than the moon, but the grey planet being situated 40x closer to the earth than our burning star. <\/p>\n
When the moon covers the sun on its orbital path, that's when eclipses occur. <\/p>\n
\"If the moon was 10 times larger then we would have an eclipse every month,\" said Prof Gieles. <\/p>\n
Eclipses still occur regularly but can be either full or partial depending on the orbiting moon's position from earth. <\/p>\n
Its orbit is also tilted at five degrees in relation to earth so the moon's shadow will normally pass under or over. <\/p>\n
The last total eclipse viewable from Great Britain happened in 1999 and before that in 1927! <\/p>\n
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Total Solar Eclipse: University of Surrey astronomy expert provides fascinating insight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A star-gazing expert from the University of Surrey has spoken about next Friday's (March 20) total solar eclipse which will plunge Surrey and north-east Hampshire into darkness. Astro-physics professor Mark Gieles has talked about the science and history behind the natural phenomenon. He has worked as a research fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Chile and as a support astronomer on the Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal in the Atacama desert. Continue reading