US-SCIENCE-ECLIPSE

US-SCIENCE-ECLIPSE

The moon nears completion of its path across the sun at 4:17pm during a partial eclipse of the sun as seen through leaves on trees near Mount Wilson Observatory on Mt. Wilson, a 5,710-foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles. Solar eclipses occur when the moon, sun and Earth are aligned in such a way that from a portion of the Earth, the shadow of the moon blocks out the sun and in a case as today during a partial eclipse, the sun is never entirely obscured by the moon. AFP PHOTO / Frederic J. BROWN