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This is what a solar eclipse looks like from the Moon (thelemmy.club)

submitted 1 day ago by SpaceFacts@lemmy.world to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world

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Captured by Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander on March 14, 2025.

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[-] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 4 points 16 hours ago

I think a solar eclipse is when anything passes in front of the sun, ie when the sun is eclipsed. We just don't often see it from the moon

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 2 points 5 hours ago

Yup. You're basically right, clarification on "anything":

Not the celestial body you're on (that's called night)
Not a structure on the celestial body you're on (that's called being in the shadow)
Not an object with too small angular size to cause much dimming, such as Venus or the ISS (that's called a solar transit)

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 1 points 9 hours ago

Indeed. It's with respect to a viewer. Nothing is eclipsed in this image.

eclipse /ĭ-klĭps′/

noun

The partial or complete obscuring, relative to a designated observer, of one celestial body by another.
The period of time during which such an obscuration occurs.

[-] square@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

The earth (one celestial body) is partially obscuring the sun (another celestial body) relative to the Blue Ghost lander (the designated observer).

It's an eclipse.

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 0 points 1 hour ago

If you're on the earth it's an eclipse. On the moon nothing is between you and the sun, or you and the earth.

Put another way, an eclipse is only an eclipse from a certain observation point. For example, the crew of Integrity observed a solar eclipse on their way around the moon. The moon was between them and the sun. There was no eclipse for the rest of us on earth.