The view is exactly perpendicular to the Earth-Sun line. Unlike most eclipse shadow diagrams, the first three animations here don’t greatly exaggerate the scale of the Earth and Moon. Just like winter and summer happen every six months, eclipses tend to occur on a roughly six-month cycle. This is analogous to the way the tilt of the Earth causes seasons. As the Earth and Moon travel around the Sun, the tilt of the Moon’s orbit changes direction relative to the Sun. But they don’t happen every New and Full Moon, because the Moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees. A solar eclipse happens when the Moon’s shadow falls on the Earth, while a lunar eclipse happens when the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon.Įclipses can only happen at New and Full Moon, when the Earth, Moon, and Sun are all in a straight line. The animations on this page illustrate the Moon’s orbit and its role in lunar and solar eclipses.
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