The next Drunk on Astronomy post is for Eclipse Red Wine from the Heron Hill Winery in Hammondsport, NY.
This is probably the most straightforward Drunk on Geology post I have done to date. But per Webster's Dictionary, an eclipse is an:
obscuration of the light of the sun by intervention of the moon (solar eclipse), or of the moon by intervention of the earth (lunar eclipse).
 |
| Eclipse diagrams (Image courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica) |
Looking at the solar eclipse first, I have been lucky enough to have seen a mostly complete solar eclipse. When I lived in Utah, there was a solar eclipse that reached near totality where I lived on August 21st, 2017. You can read my full account of the process of getting these photos on my post HERE.
 |
| My photo of the 2017 Solar Eclipse from Utah (partial solar eclipse from my vantage |
 |
| The complete progression of my solar eclipse photos |
The almost near identical appearance of sizes of the moon and the sun means that when we do get a solar eclipse it will only appear as a total solar eclipse for a narrow band of people on Earth. And since the Earth rotates, that narrow band with move in a predictable line across the Earth during the daily rotation. The map above shows the map of the Solar Eclipse I photographed in August of 2017.
 |
| August 21, 2017 Solar Eclipse path map. Image courtesy of the American Astronomical Society. |
Percentages of coverage during an eclipse are known as the magnitude. The magnitude is the fraction of the eclipsed body covered by the eclipsing body. During a solar eclipse, the magnitude refers to the fraction of the sun covered by the moon. A total solar eclipse would be equal to 1.0 (which equals "totality") and anything off of that totality line would be less than one. For my images of the solar eclipse above, I took them at the ~0.9 magnitude line.
There is an interesting note, that even though the moon and sun appear approximately the same size in the sky, they are not exactly the same size. The moon is a hair smaller in appearance. This means that if you were to be in the exact center line of totality, a fringe of the sun would appear as a halo around the eclipsing moon causing an effect known as the "ring of fire".
When we look at the position of the moon in relation to the sun and Earth, over the course of a month, the moon completes an orbit around the Earth (hence the term month essentially means 1 moon orbit). During the moon's orbit, the moon goes from a new moon, where it is not visible at night, to a full moon, where it is completely visible, and back again. The diagram below illustrates the position of the moon in relation to the Earth and sun during all phases of the moon. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is in New Moon phase because that is the only time the moon is directly between the Earth and sun.
 |
| Notably this wine is produced and bottled with solar energy. |
When we look at the position of the moon in relation to the sun and Earth, over the course of a month, the moon completes an orbit around the Earth (hence the term month essentially means 1 moon orbit). During the moon's orbit, the moon goes from a new moon, where it is not visible at night, to a full moon, where it is completely visible, and back again. The diagram below illustrates the position of the moon in relation to the Earth and sun during all phases of the moon. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is in New Moon phase because that is the only time the moon is directly between the Earth and sun.
 |
| Phases of the moon via Space.com. |
The lunar eclipse rearranges the order of the moon, earth, sun. Instead of the moon being between the Earth and the Sun, now the Earth is between the sun and moon, during the Full Moon phase of the moon. Therefore, a lunar eclipse is when the moon is covered by the shadow of the Earth. And since the Earth is much, much larger than the moon, the shadow is able to cover way more space than just the moon. Allowing for more frequent lunar eclipse viewings over larger areas of the Earth's surface. In actuality, during a lunar eclipse anyone on the dark half (AKA nightside) of the Earth have the potential to witness it.
 |
| Timelapse of a lunar eclipse via Space.com |
The Earth experiences a lunar eclipse about 2 to 4 times per year. One would expect it to occur more often, since the alignment of the Sun-Earth-Moon does occur about 12-13 times a year, however the moon's orbital plane is off of this alignment and only lines up perfectly those 2 to 3 times per year. And, unlike a solar eclipse, where the moon completely obscures the sun, the shadow of the Earth can't completely obscure the moon. The result is the moon gets covered in a deep red shadow. So even though the moon is "eclipsed" it is still completely visible.
References
Interestingly enough, when we look at the Eclipse bottle we notice two design choices on the bottle.
- There are stars across the bottle. During a total solar eclipse, it is possible to see stars out, since the vast majority of the sun's light is blocked. This only occurs during totality though, and only the brightest of stars are visible. Therefore the partial eclipse seen on the bottle would not result in stars being visible.
- The design choice for the crescent shaped object makes it look like the moon. I assume this was just a design choice for the crescent sun during an eclipse and not a "waning gibbous" moon (as illustrated in the diagram above). Since the moon moves through phases continuously over the course of the month, a waning gibbous moon would represent when the moon was not directly in line with the Earth and sun, and therefore would not be an eclipse. This also can't be a lunar eclipse since, as we noted above, the moon is still completely visible during a lunar eclipse, it is only tinged a deep red color. So, since the wine is named "Eclipse", we would have to assume it is indeed the sun and not the moon illustrated and meant to be a partial solar eclipse.
