Find out how eclipses work and where to watch this one
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Ask the Experts
Half a Moon Is Better Than None
What would happen to Earth if the moon was only half as massive?
Features
How Do Eclipse Photographs Get Made?
Film or digital—how to decide
Fact or Fiction
The 1919 solar eclipse
Why it made Albert Einstein famous—and Arthur Eddington infamous
News
Does Homer's Odyssey describe a real eclipse?
Hints that the Greek poet knew his astronomy
News
Secrets of the Antikythera mechanism revealed
Learn about an ancient Greek device that could predict eclipses
News
Solar eclipse of March 2006
Find out what made it unusual
The Editors Recommend
Scientific American Magazine
The Transit of Venus
The moon isn't the only heavenly body that crosses in front of the sun
Ask the Experts
Why is the sun's corona the hottest layer when it is farther from the sun's core than other layers are?
Features
There Goes the Sun
Satellites captured the February 1998 eclipse in all its glory
From the Archive
Scientific American Magazine
May 2004 Issue
The Transit of Venus
When Venus crosses the face of the sun this June, scientists will celebrate one of the greatest stories in the history of astronomy