Across
- 4. My real name
- 6. The Sun’s upper atmosphere, visible as a pearly glow around the eclipsed Sun during totality. Its shape (sometimes elongated, sometimes round) is determined by the Sun’s magnetic field and is linked to the sunspot cycle.
- 7. An object in space whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape
- 8. The plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun or, equivalently, the plane of the Sun's apparent motion around the sky throughout the year. It gets its name from the fact that only when both the Sun and Moon are on (or, in the Moon's case, near) the ecliptic can an eclipse occur.
- 13. The extension of the Moon’s shadow beyond the umbra. Within the antumbra, the Sun appears larger than the Moon, which is visible in silhouette. An observer standing in the antumbra sees an annular eclipse.
- 14. a flat, rotating disk of gas and dust surrounding a condensed mass
- 15. Cosmological model that explains the sudden development of the universe through expansion from a hot, dense state
- 16. The visible surface of the Sun, which consists of a gas layer at a temperature of roughly 5,500° Celsius (10,000° Fahrenheit).
Down
- 1. The darkest part of the Moon’s shadow, within which the entirety of the Sun's bright face is blocked. Within the umbra, the Moon appears larger than the Sun. An observer standing in the umbra sees a total solar eclipse.
- 2. Dark regions on the Sun where magnetic fields are bundled together and are so strong that the flow of hot gas from the Sun’s interior to the surface is inhibited. The spots appear dark because their temperature is about 1,000° Celsius (1,800° Fahrenheit) cooler than the photosphere that surrounds them.
- 3. My sixth sense
- 5. The maximum phase of an annular eclipse, when the Moon’s entire disk is seen silhouetted against the Sun. Annularity occurs between second and third contact. It can last from a fraction of a second to a maximum of 12 minutes 30 seconds.
- 9. The portion of the Moon’s shadow in which only part of the Sun is covered. An observer standing in the penumbra sees a partial solar eclipse.
- 10. A thin, red-colored layer of solar atmosphere located just above the photosphere. It is briefly visible immediately after second contact and just prior to third contact at a total solar eclipse.
- 11. An eclipse cycle with a period of 6,585.32 days (18 years 11⅓ days or 18 years 10⅓ days, depending on how many leap years intervene). When two eclipses are separated by a period of one Saros, the Sun, Earth, and Moon return to approximately the same relative geometry, and a nearly identical eclipse will occur (though the eclipse path will be shifted west by eight hours — one-third of Earth’s rotation).
- 12. The maximum phase of a total solar eclipse, during which the Moon’s disk completely covers the Sun's bright face. Totality occurs between second and third contact. It can last from a fraction of a second to a maximum of 7 minutes 31 seconds.
- 16. Hot gas hanging just above the solar surface, usually appearing as a red-colored arc or filament hovering in the lower part of the corona. Prominences are quickly covered by the Moon after second contact and revealed just prior to third contact at a total solar eclipse.