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On March 20th, 2015, the shadow of the Moon will cross the surface of the Earth and create a total solar eclipse.

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By calculating the position of the Earth and the Sun on this date,

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we can produce several visualizations of the shadow.

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First we have the Moon's orbit leading up to the eclipse.

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Here the Earth, Moon, shadows, and orbit are all to scale.

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Now, what will the solar eclipse look like from space?

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From well beyond the Moon's far side, the shadow appears circular.

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Viewed from above the location on Earth where maximum eclipse will occur, the shadow would appear elongated.

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It hits the Earth near a point south of Greenland and departs very near the North Pole.

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The central black dot you see is the umbra, where the sun is completely covered by the Moon.

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The fainter, much larger shadow is the penumbra, where the Sun is only partially obscured.

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The Faroe Islands of Denmark and the Svalbard islands off Norway are in the path of the umbra,

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while the penumbra covers all of Europe, and extends to North Africa and Russia.

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Back in May 2012, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter turned its camera away from the Moon and toward Earth,

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capturing this stunning image of the Moon's shadow during the annular eclipse.

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So, no matter where we view them from, solar eclipses are a dramatic spectacle made possible by the shadow of the Moon.

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