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View Full Version : The eclipse according to Yahoo

Donnie B.
15-May-2003, 10:38 PM
"Total lunar eclipse to cast shadow on Earth"

On Yahoo main page, 5:37PM EDT, 05/15/2003.

FWIW, the story that it links to is correct; only the frontpage headline is SNAFU.

:oops:
pmcolt
15-May-2003, 10:51 PM
Maybe the eclipse is blocking out the light from Planet X? :x
dgruss23
16-May-2003, 01:00 AM
I guess that means a solar eclipse is when the Earth casts a shadow on the Sun? :roll:

At least they got it right in the article. I once read an article in the local newspaper that was about the asteroid impact that is thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs. The article title was: "Crater a big impact for archaeologists." I guess we can't expect the average newsroom to recognize the difference between the various "ologies" out there.
frenat
16-May-2003, 04:42 AM
I saw that. It was painful to look at. Still painful to think about it.

Ouch!
Mirror Man
16-May-2003, 09:48 AM
SO why didn't anyone screen capture it??? Huh?
Donnie B.
16-May-2003, 12:55 PM
Hmmm, maybe what they meant was that the darkened Moon would inspire evil spirits that would haunt us, casting a shadow on human society here on Earth... :lol:
calliarcale
16-May-2003, 04:38 PM
They probably meant it metaphorically, in the sense that it would be kind of creepy. And it is rather creepy to watch the Earth's umbra slowly swallow up the Moon. Creepier than a solar eclipse in some respects, because the Earth's shadow is clearly much bigger than the Moon. And the lack of a crisp border between eclipsed and noneclipsed portions also looks creepy. To me, anyway. ;)

That said, it's still inexcusable to imply that the Moon is casting a shadow on the Earth, even if it does make for a cool-looking headline. Literary devices are all well and good, but they can make science needlessly confusing. Not too long ago I saw an article about a badger attacking four people in England. (One guy needed skin grafts, it was so bad!) In pursuit of an alliteration, the writer gave it a headline that identifed the badger as a rodent. Sad, isn't it?
tracer
20-May-2003, 02:38 AM
Well ... when the full moon is shining, it lights up the night side of the Earth a little bit. When the full moon is eclipsed, the night side of the Earth doesn't receive that little extra bit of moonlight. So a lunar eclipse kinda-sorta-maybe "casts a shadow" on the Earth.


(Personally, I thought the eclipsed moon looked like the Death Star.)