![]() ![]() These hula hoops, however, do not lie in the same plane – the Moon’s orbit is tilted by a little over five degrees to the ecliptic. The Moon does orbit the Earth, so now imagine its path as yet another hula circling the Earth. For the moment, imagine this path as a hula hoop with the Earth at the center. (This helped give rise to and support the geocentric “Earth-centered” model of the solar system that, up until a couple of hundred years ago, was widely accepted by many as the correct view of our universe.) From our viewpoint on Earth, the Sun appears to follow a specific path in the sky through the zodiac constellations, and this path is known as the ecliptic. From our viewpoint here on Earth that is how things appear. Let’s imagine that the Earth is stationary and the Sun and Moon both orbit our planet. THE OBJECT SIZES AND DISTANCES ARE NOT TO SCALE. The arrangement of the Sun, Moon, and Earth during lunar and solar eclipses. These two moon phases occur every month, so why don’t we have solar and lunar eclipses each month? The answer lies in the Moon’s orbit. As a result, a solar eclipse can only occur during New Moon and a lunar eclipse can only occur during Full Moon. In order for this to occur, the three bodies (Sun, Moon, and Earth) have to be in a nearly perfectly straight line. In general, an eclipse typically refers to the Sun being blocked by the Moon (a solar eclipse) or the Earth blocking the Sun (a lunar eclipse). Most folks will witness at least one partial solar eclipse in their lifetimes however, most folks who aren’t avid amateur astronomers will not witness one of the true splendors of nature – a total solar eclipse.Īn eclipse occurs when one body passes in front of and obscures another body. Solar eclipses are fairly common – there are typically two solar eclipses per year occurring somewhere on Earth. Details of the August 21st, 2017, solar eclipse.What can be observed during partial and solar eclipses.Click on the topics below to learn more about ![]()
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