Michael Socha, age 10, of 12 Kendall oak ,    Brunswick,  for his question:

What makes a solar eclipse?

The earth and the moon have shadows, long tapering shadows that reach far out into space. Like all shadows, they point away from the sun. Your shadow leaves a dark patch where it fall or. the ground because your body is shutting off some of the sunshine. Out in space there are not many solid objects for the shadows of the earth and the moon to fall upon.

But, once in awhile, the shadow of the moon falls upon the earth. When this happens, the moon is exactly between the earth and the sun. It blots out the face of the sun and we get a solar eclipse. The awesome spectacle is seen from only a small area of the earth. While it lasts, the moon's shadow moves in a curved path. For a few minutes, the sun is hidden and in the path of the eclipse the world is as dark as at midnight.