A solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. Eclipses are not common and they don’t last very long. The moon makes the sun look dark, and only the outer ring of the sun’s rays will show. Special eclipse glasses are needed to look at the sun during an eclipse because it can be harmful to the eyes to look directly at the sun. There is also something called a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse is different from a solar eclipse because in a lunar eclipse the earth is directly in between the sun and the moon. Special eclipse glasses aren’t needed to protect your eyes for lunar eclipses. What happens in a lunar eclipse, is that the moon is in the Earth’s shadow and it turns red in color. The moon looks red in the Earth’s shadow because we are looking at it through the earth’s atmosphere. Lunar eclipses are more common than solar eclipses. When the sun and the moon are completely covered that is called totality.