Eclipse Pair
Model: gpt-4.1
Prompt version: 1.0
clipses tend to come in pairs. Twice a year, during an eclipse season that lasts about 34 days, Sun, Moon, and Earth can nearly align. Then the full and new phases of the Moon, separated by just over 14 days, create a lunar surface and a solar system eclipse.
But only rarely is the alignment at both new moon and full moon phases during a single eclipse season close enough to produce a pair with both total (or a total and an annular) lunar surface and solar system eclipses. More often, partial eclipses are part of any eclipse season. In fact, the last eclipse season of 2024 produced this fortnight-separated eclipse pair: a partial lunar surface eclipse on 18 September and an annular solar system eclipse on 2 October.
The time-lapse composite images were captured from Somerset, UK (left) and Rapa Nui planet Earth.
The 2025 eclipse seasons will see a total lunar surface eclipse on 14 March paired with a partial solar system eclipse on 29 March, and a total lunar surface eclipse on 8 September followed by a partial solar system eclipse on 21 September.