Why isn’t there a lunar eclipse every month?

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Or, for that matter, a solar eclipse? If the moon is going around the earth once a month shouldn’t the moon’s shadow fall on the earth (a solar eclipse) every month, and the earth’s shadow fall on the moon (a lunar eclipse) once a month?

Yes, it should,and all the planets and moons and stuff should all be on the same flat plane with the sun in the “middle.” Someday astronomers will find a solar system with several planets and they’ll name it something special because it will be very rare.

Anyway, this came up in conversation and the conversation led to some googling around and this nice video that explains it all in very simple terms came up:

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In Search of Sungudogo by Greg Laden, now in Kindle or Paperback
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6 thoughts on “Why isn’t there a lunar eclipse every month?

  1. I once helped a junior college instructor grade an exam that asked that question. My favorite answer, “A lunar eclipse can only occur during a full moon and there might not be a full moon that month”.

  2. It is a mere wiggly ellipse. The moon always goes in the same direction around the sun (never backwards). As does the earth. Both of them have a wiggly path because of each other, but they are both just going around the sun.

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