Earth holds an elite status in the solar system

It can be casual to forget the magnificence of our planet and get lost in our tight-knit everyday lives. In the advent of a lunar eclipse (January 31, 2018)  it is worth knowing that when it comes to eclipses, Earth holds a pristine status in our solar system. 

To understand why, we need to shift our perspective a little bit and ask -”How would it be like if you were on Io (one of the moons of Jupiter)?” 

 

                                        Image source :Deviant art

The most startling thing about this experience would be that the Jupiter would appear 36 times larger than the full moon (from earth).  That’s HUGE!

 

Also since the moons of Jupiter lies in the same plane, you would be witnessing an eclipse every 42 hours … 

 

               Moons - Io, Ganymede, and Callisto in solar eclipse

In addition, since Jupiter has many moons (A large family of them), you might be able to catch some your fellow moons in eclipse with the sun. Their shadows though, appearing like tiny dots on the gas giant.

Saturn and its eclipse

If we make a slight detour and end up in Saturn, this is what it looks like when Saturn occults the Sun. Although not technically an eclipse, this image was captured by Cassini with Sun behind the planet, setting the rings and its atmosphere aglow.

 

                     Credit:  NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

When people are not overwhelmed by the beauty of its rings, they notice the shadows cast by its many moons. Here is the solar eclipse of Saturn’s moon Titan:

 

Eclipse on our friendly neighbor - Mars

 

Larger of Mars’s two moons, Phobos passing in front of the sun - Solar eclipse.

Let’s forget about all those planets that are far away, if one were make a visit to Mars which is  ~12 light minutes away, one would witness only partial eclipses because the moons of Mars are too small to block the entire sun.

 

Eclipses on Earth

 

 

                        One Earth, One moon, A spectacular eclipse

Eclipses on earth, on the other hand, are too surreal to be true. Our planet not only supports life but also is placed in a prime location that would cause a total solar eclipse.

And as though the entire universe wanted to amuse us even more, the moon’s orbital plane is slightly misaligned from the Earth’s orbital plane around the sun which makes an occurrence of an eclipse predictable but yet not long enough; leaving us in a state of desperation wanting for more.