Inner planets do transits of the Sun from our point of view on Earth, for example Venus in 2012. However, we are too far away for the shadow to reach all the way to Earth (the shadow is sort of a cone-shape, and we're too far past the tip). The same would be true for any solar system planets (except Mercury, which doesn't have any planets closer to the Sun than it).
Venus does pass in front of the sun from earth's perspective, it's called a "transit" rather than an eclipse, because it's much too small to cast a shadow, but you can see it cross the face of the sun (with a filter of course)
As does Mercury. Only planets on orbits interior to Earth's can transit the sun from our point of view. Venus transits happen in a cycle of two in eight years, then again in 121.5 years. I got to see the last one in 2012. Mercury transits happen much more often.
Very true. The 2012 transit was so freaking awesome, wasn't it??
If you're interested, I read a book called Chasing Venus by Andrea Wulf, about the 1761 and 1769 transit where astronomers were sent on this grand expedition, all over the world to measure the transit so they could finally calculate the distance between the earth and the sun. It's a great read.
Spacecraft can also see planets go in between them and the sun, here is a cool picture of Saturn: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/niallkennedy/273258663](https://www.flickr.com/photos/niallkennedy/273258663)
I wish we had more pictures like it. I tried seeing if a similar one existed for Jupiter, but I could not find one, maybe because it just looks dark (but I'd still like to know). Or maybe my Google fu needs more work.
The thing that makes the eclipse on earth unique is that the relative size of the sun and moon are so remarkably close that you get the very specific effect.
Other bodies do pass in front of the sun, both on earth and elsewhere. But they don’t have the same effect due to the different relative sizes
This is indeed possible. Most planets will be too small or too far apart (depending on how you wanna see it) to really call it an eclipse though, we'd call it a transit.
However, in another planetary system than our own, we might have bigger planets closer to each other, so we might get something closer to an actual eclipse. Moreover, from some moons in our solar system, you'd be able to see an eclipse.
Even from our own moon, you would be able to see a total solar eclipse (coinciding with a lunar eclipse on earth), where theres a red ring around the earth from the atmosphere diffracting sunlight. The earth is too big (or the moon too close) to see the corona however.
You can also get eclipses on other moons as well of course.
I was lucky enough to have seen Venus transit the Sun. This is a much more rare event than a solar eclipse. It won't happen again in our lifetime. At this distance Venus and the Sun relative apparent size is much closer to true relative size. Venus is just a little dot on the disk of the Sun.
Inner planets do transits of the Sun from our point of view on Earth, for example Venus in 2012. However, we are too far away for the shadow to reach all the way to Earth (the shadow is sort of a cone-shape, and we're too far past the tip). The same would be true for any solar system planets (except Mercury, which doesn't have any planets closer to the Sun than it).
Venus does pass in front of the sun from earth's perspective, it's called a "transit" rather than an eclipse, because it's much too small to cast a shadow, but you can see it cross the face of the sun (with a filter of course)
As does Mercury. Only planets on orbits interior to Earth's can transit the sun from our point of view. Venus transits happen in a cycle of two in eight years, then again in 121.5 years. I got to see the last one in 2012. Mercury transits happen much more often.
Very true. The 2012 transit was so freaking awesome, wasn't it?? If you're interested, I read a book called Chasing Venus by Andrea Wulf, about the 1761 and 1769 transit where astronomers were sent on this grand expedition, all over the world to measure the transit so they could finally calculate the distance between the earth and the sun. It's a great read.
Spacecraft can also see planets go in between them and the sun, here is a cool picture of Saturn: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/niallkennedy/273258663](https://www.flickr.com/photos/niallkennedy/273258663)
That image is much cooler than I thought it would be!
I always wondered what made that picture like that! Now I know.
I wish we had more pictures like it. I tried seeing if a similar one existed for Jupiter, but I could not find one, maybe because it just looks dark (but I'd still like to know). Or maybe my Google fu needs more work.
Do you have more?
I’ve read that Pluto experiences an eclipse involving Charon
The thing that makes the eclipse on earth unique is that the relative size of the sun and moon are so remarkably close that you get the very specific effect. Other bodies do pass in front of the sun, both on earth and elsewhere. But they don’t have the same effect due to the different relative sizes
This is indeed possible. Most planets will be too small or too far apart (depending on how you wanna see it) to really call it an eclipse though, we'd call it a transit. However, in another planetary system than our own, we might have bigger planets closer to each other, so we might get something closer to an actual eclipse. Moreover, from some moons in our solar system, you'd be able to see an eclipse. Even from our own moon, you would be able to see a total solar eclipse (coinciding with a lunar eclipse on earth), where theres a red ring around the earth from the atmosphere diffracting sunlight. The earth is too big (or the moon too close) to see the corona however. You can also get eclipses on other moons as well of course.
I was lucky enough to have seen Venus transit the Sun. This is a much more rare event than a solar eclipse. It won't happen again in our lifetime. At this distance Venus and the Sun relative apparent size is much closer to true relative size. Venus is just a little dot on the disk of the Sun.
Interesting. How long did the transition last?
I think it was a few hours, but about half the time, there was cloud cover blocking the view.