Solar Eclipse: occurs during a New Moon, when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned – the moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth, causing the Sun to be obscured by the Moon. At this point, the only visible sunlight stems from its corona, or the outer aura of plasma that surrounds the Sun.
Lunar Eclipse: occurs during a Full Moon, when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its shadow, or umbra – sunlight is blocked by the Earth’s shadow, and the only visible light is that which is reflected through the Earth’s shadow causing a reddish hue to appear on the Moon