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Hello, the experience of a total solar eclipse is one of the life's most extraordinary,

fleeting and intense moments.

One day becomes night.

The stars come out before day returns.

A total lunar eclipse is a more frequent pleasure and lasts longer with a blood moon the color

of a shepherd's delight.

And both events have created the chance for scientists to learn something remarkable.

From the speed of light to the roundness of the earth to proving Einstein's theory of

general relativity and much more besides.

We'd me to discuss eclipses are Lucy Green, Professor of Physics and a Royal Society University

Research Fellow at Mullard Space Research Laboratory at University College London.

Frank Close, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and Carolyn Crawford,

Public Astronomer based at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and the

Fellow of Emanuel College.

Carolyn, can we define what we're talking about?

What's a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse happens when the moon's orbit takes it directly on a path between the sun and

...