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Solar and Lunar Eclipses

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What causes a lunar eclipse? A solar eclipse? Why aren't there lunar and solar eclipses every month?

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Solution Summary

This solution explains what lunar and solar eclipses are, the difference between them, and why they occur. It also explains why they don't occur every month as should be expected.

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To understand this question very well I think you also need to understand how the Sun, the Earth, and the moon move about each other (feel free to neglect this paragraph if you already know); First, our Earth goes round the sun in about 1 year, and as it does this, it carries the moon along (the moon in turn goes round the Earth in about 1 month). So, there are 2 motions here; the motion of the moon about the Earth in 1 month, and the motion of the Earth about the sun in 1 year. I will also mention here that the moon is ...

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