Eclipse Trivia
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This eclipse trivia quiz has 98 free questions with answers and covers both kinds: the solar eclipse, when the Moon blots out the Sun for a few precious minutes along a narrow path, and the lunar eclipse, when the Moon slides into Earth's shadow and turns red for anyone on the night side of the planet. It explains why the two bodies happen to look the same size, how long totality can last, why the corona only shows itself then, and what Baily's beads and the diamond ring are. It also covers eclipse history and culture: the battle Herodotus says was stopped by a darkened sky, the 1919 eclipse that made Einstein famous, Columbus's trick in Jamaica, the Concorde that flew inside the Moon's shadow, the Great American Eclipse of 2017 and the 2024 eclipse across Mexico, the US and Canada, plus a nod to Bonnie Tyler and Twilight. Difficulty runs from easy to expert. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its citation.
30 of 98 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Sun is both wider than the Moon and farther from Earth by roughly what factor?
About 400
About 400: the two ratios match, so both discs span about half a degree in our sky and the Moon can just cover the Sun.
Q 02At most, roughly how long can totality during a solar eclipse last at one spot?
About 7 minutes
About 7 minutes: the Moon's shadow races across Earth at over 1,000 mph, so no single spot stays in darkness for long.
Q 03In which kind of solar eclipse does the Moon appear too small to cover the Sun, leaving a bright ring?
Annular
Annular: because a bright ring of the Sun stays uncovered, it is never safe to look at without eye protection, even at its peak.
Q 04What is the name of the dark central part of the Moon's shadow, inside which a total eclipse is seen?
Umbra
Umbra: where it touches Earth, its path is only about 100 miles wide, and anyone just outside it sees merely a partial eclipse.
Q 05Which part of the Sun becomes visible to the naked eye only during a total eclipse?
The corona
The corona: this outer atmosphere tops a million degrees, yet it is far fainter than the Sun's face, which normally drowns it out.
Q 06How often, on average, does a total solar eclipse happen somewhere on Earth?
Every 18 months
Every 18 months: yet the shadow's path is so narrow that any one town usually waits centuries for its next total eclipse.
Q 07Which element was first spotted in the Sun's light during an 1868 eclipse, years before it was found on Earth?
Helium
Helium: its bright yellow line in the Sun's spectrum matched no known element, and William Ramsay didn't identify it on Earth until 1895.
Q 08What is the name of the roughly 18-year cycle after which a near-identical eclipse repeats?
Saros
Saros: each cycle runs about 8 hours past a whole number of days, so Earth turns a third further and the repeat eclipse lands about 120 degrees west.
Q 09What are Baily's beads, seen around totality?
Sunlight shining through valleys on the Moon's edge
Sunlight shining through valleys on the Moon's edge makes the beads, and when the last one winks out, totality begins.
Q 10Which astronomer made the first recorded observation of Baily's beads, during the eclipse of 3 May 1715?
Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley is best known for predicting that the comet seen in 1682 would return in 1758, as it did, years after his death.
Q 11Which theory did Arthur Eddington's observations of the total eclipse of May 29, 1919 help confirm?
General relativity
General relativity: the Sun's gravity shifted the apparent positions of background stars as Einstein predicted, and the result made him a global celebrity.
Q 12Per Herodotus, a 585 BC eclipse halted a battle between the Medes and which other people?
The Lydians
The Lydians: when day suddenly turned to night mid-battle, both armies stopped fighting and were eager to make peace.
Q 13A clay tablet recording an early solar eclipse was found at Ugarit, in which modern country?
Syria
Syria: the Ugarit tablet says the Sun went down in daytime with Mars in view, a sign the sky truly went dark in a total eclipse.
Q 21What is a selenelion?
Seeing the Sun and eclipsed Moon at once
Seeing the Sun and eclipsed Moon at once: it happens just after sunrise or before sunset, and a mountaintop view of both horizons helps.
Q 22In one Inca myth, which animal attacked and ate the Moon during a lunar eclipse?
A jaguar
A jaguar: to drive it off before it leapt down to eat people, the Inca shook spears at the Moon and beat their dogs to make them howl.
Q 23In a Chinese legend, what happened to astronomers Hsi and Ho after they failed to predict an eclipse?
They were executed
Q 14Why will total solar eclipses eventually stop happening?
The Moon is slowly drifting farther away
The Moon is slowly drifting farther away, roughly 4 cm a year, so in hundreds of millions of years it will look too small to cover the Sun.
Q 15When is it safe to look at a solar eclipse without a certified solar filter?
Only during totality
Only during totality: once the Moon hides the whole Sun you may look, but glasses go back on the moment any bright sliver reappears.
Q 16At which lunar phase can a lunar eclipse occur?
Full
Earth has to sit between the Sun and Moon, and that only happens at full moon during an eclipse season.
Q 17Why does a totally eclipsed Moon look red?
Sunlight is refracted through Earth's atmosphere
Sunlight is refracted through Earth's atmosphere, which filters out blue light, so the Moon glows with every sunrise and sunset on Earth at once.
Q 18Why does lunar totality last far longer than solar totality?
Earth's shadow is much wider
Earth's shadow is much wider than the Moon's, so the Moon can spend well over an hour crossing its core, while the Moon's own small shadow sweeps past any one spot in minutes.
Q 19Do you need eye protection to watch a lunar eclipse?
No, it is safe to look directly
No, it is safe to look directly: you are seeing the dimmed Moon, not the Sun, so binoculars and telescopes are fine too.
Q 20Which five-step scale, from L=0 to L=4, rates how dark a total lunar eclipse looks?
Danjon scale
Danjon scale: after big volcanic eruptions fill the air with ash, eclipses tend to land at its dark end, with the Moon nearly vanishing.
They were executed, the story goes, for being too drunk to warn the emperor, though historians suspect the tale is invented.
Q 24On which island did Columbus use a predicted lunar eclipse in 1504 to frighten locals into feeding his crew?
Jamaica
Jamaica: stranded there with his ships beached, he warned that an angry God would darken the Moon, and when it did, the locals resumed supplying food.
Q 25The Dresden Codex, a bark-paper book full of eclipse tables, was made by which people?
The Maya
The Maya: its tables tracked when eclipses could occur, and some scholars argue they even point to the July 1991 eclipse over Mexico.
Q 26Near which Illinois city did the 2017 eclipse reach its longest totality, about 2 minutes 41 seconds?
Carbondale
Carbondale scored again in 2024, sitting near the crossing point of both eclipse paths.
Q 27Where did the 2017 path of totality leave the US mainland?
South Carolina
South Carolina: the shadow crossed the whole country from the Pacific in about an hour and a half, leaving land near Charleston.
Q 28Which Pacific beach city was the first place on mainland Mexico to see totality in April 2024?
Mazatlán
Mazatlán: the Moon's shadow came ashore there from the Pacific, then raced northeast across Texas and on toward eastern Canada.
Q 29After 2024, roughly how long must the contiguous US wait for its next total solar eclipse?
20 years
About 20 years: the August 2044 eclipse only clips Montana and the Dakotas, but a coast-to-coast one from California to Florida follows a year later.
Q 30Aboard which aircraft did scientists extend their view of a 1973 eclipse's totality to over 74 minutes over Africa?
Concorde
Concorde: the prototype flew at over twice the speed of sound to keep pace with the Moon's shadow, peering up through portholes cut into its roof.