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© Copyright 2003, Jim Loy
You might wonder why we don't see a solar eclipse ever new moon, and a lunar eclipse every full moon. This animation shows the Earth (blue) and Moon (gray) as seen from the Sun. Each orbit of the Moon takes a month, somewhat faster in this animation. The Moon's orbit is tilted by more than five degrees (exaggerated here), and we don't have any eclipses (lunar or solar) except when the Moon's orbit crosses the line between the Sun and the Earth, twice a year. We can have one or two eclipses (one solar and one lunar) when this happens. Lunar eclipses are not particularly rare. Solar eclipses are rare only in any given location, because you have to stand in the Moon's small shadow in order to witness a total eclipse. And not all eclipses are total.
The above Java animation was created with Cinderella (a geometry program).
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