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An eclipse event occurs when the shadow formed by the earth or moon is on a straight line. When the eclipse takes place, the sunlight is covered by the earth or the moon, so that both do not get sunlight.
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There are two types of eclipses, namely lunar eclipses and solar eclipses. In one year, lunar eclipses generally occur two to three times, while solar eclipses occur two to five times.
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So, why don’t lunar and solar eclipses occur every month? To better understand it, see the full explanation below.
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Reasons why lunar and solar eclipses don’t happen every month
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The angle of inclination of the orbits of two celestial bodies like this is called the angle of inclination. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth, moon and sun are in the same straight line.
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Therefore, lunar eclipses occur at least twice a year. Likewise eclipses with the sun.
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By taking the example of the process of the occurrence of a solar eclipse, the following is a more complete picture of why eclipses do not occur every month.
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The process of the occurrence of a solar eclipse
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The tilt of the moon’s orbit is what causes a solar eclipse to occur only at the moment when the sun is close to the vertex of the moon’s orbit, which revolves around the earth with respect to the ecliptic (the plane of the earth’s orbit around the sun).
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So, not every new moon phase, the moon is exactly parallel to the earth and the sun. Sometimes the shadow of the moon passes above or below the earth, so that there is no eclipse.
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If the orbits of the moon and sun were in the same plane, once every month there would be a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse one after another. However, the reality is that this is not the case.
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Eclipse events can occur because they have to wait for the right configuration when the moon and sun are seen from the earth, then meet at the meeting point of the ecliptic plane with the moon’s orbital plane.
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In addition, there are several other factors that cause lunar and solar eclipses to not occur every month. One of them, because the path of the earth and the moon is elliptical.
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