Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A symbolic orbital diagram from the view of the Earth at the center, showing the Moon's two nodes where eclipses can occur. Up to three eclipses may occur during an eclipse season, a one- or two-month period that happens twice a year, around the time when the Sun is near the nodes of the Moon's orbit. An eclipse does not occur every month ...
Lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. [1] Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth's orbit.
A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon 's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth (because the Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, the same hemisphere is always facing the Earth). In common usage, the four major phases are the new moon, the first quarter, the full moon and the last quarter; the four minor ...
Lunar node. The lunar nodes are the two points where the Moon's orbital path crosses the ecliptic, the Sun's apparent yearly path on the celestial sphere. A lunar node is either of the two orbital nodes of the Moon, that is, the two points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic. The ascending (or north) node is where the Moon ...
Saros (astronomy) The saros (/ ˈsɛərɒs / ⓘ) is a period of exactly 223 synodic months, approximately 6585.321 days (18.04 years), or 18 years plus 10, 11, or 12 days (depending on the number of leap years), and 8 hours, that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. One saros period after an eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon ...
Lunar eclipses occur when the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow. This happens only during a full moon, when the Moon is on the far side of the Earth from the Sun. Unlike a solar eclipse, an eclipse of the Moon can be observed from nearly an entire hemisphere. For this reason it is much more common to observe a lunar eclipse from a given ...
The lunar standstill phenomenon was probably known from Megalithic times. In high latitudes, there was a period within the 18.6 years cycle, when the Moon became circumpolar. [4] It would have drawn the attention of locals. In other latitudes, the major lunar standstill featured constant scene illumination during the full Moon.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season in its new moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of Earth's orbit. [1]