Expert: Ed - 3/10/2005

Question
Do other planets have solar and lunar eclipses

Answer
Erika,
Yes, they do.  Well, all except Mercury and Venus, and that's only because they don't have their own moons.

All that a planet needs, to have an eclipse, is to have a moon.  And, the moon just needs to be large enough to significantly interfere with the sun's light.  Or, in the case of lunar eclipses, all a moon needs to do is pass through the shadow of its host planet.

Mars is kind of a cool planet for eclipses.  It has two moons, Deimos and Phobos.  They are so tiny, and move so quickly, that a solar eclipse on Mars could last less than a minute.  If you were on Mars, you might not even notice it, because both moons are so small that they wouldn't blot out very much of the sun's light at all.

Thanks for asking such a neat question.

Keep Looking Up!
--Ed