Sign in to confirm you’re not a bot

This helps protect our community. Learn more

Sign in

2017 Eclipse and the Moon's Orbit

NASA Video

NASA Video

1.01M subscribers

<__slot-el>

Subscribe

<__slot-el>

Subscribed

120

Share

Save

26K views 9 years ago

26,947 views • Sep 9, 2015

Solar eclipses can only occur at New Moon, when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun. But not every New Moon produces an eclipse. The Moon's orbit is slightly tilted, and as seen in this animation, the tilt causes the Moon's shadow to miss the Earth during most New Moons—about five out of six, in fact. As the Earth-Moon system orbits the Sun throughout the year, the Moon's orbital tilt changes direction relative to the Sun. Sometimes the up side of the orbit is facing the Sun, and sometimes the down side. Twice a year, for about a month, what's facing the Sun is the line dividing the up and down sides. This is the line of nodes, the intersection of the Earth-Moon plane and the ecliptic or Earth-Sun plane. A solar eclipse can only occur at a New Moon that falls within one of these month-long eclipse seasons. That's when the Moon is close enough to the ecliptic to actually come between the Earth and the Sun. Download the full resolution version of this video from our Scientific Visualization Studio here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/det... ...more

...more

Comments 3

Top comments

Newest first

Description

2017 Eclipse and the Moon's Orbit

120Likes

26,947Views

2015Sep 9

Solar eclipses can only occur at New Moon, when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun. But not every New Moon produces an eclipse. The Moon's orbit is slightly tilted, and as seen in this animation, the tilt causes the Moon's shadow to miss the Earth during most New Moons—about five out of six, in fact. As the Earth-Moon system orbits the Sun throughout the year, the Moon's orbital tilt changes direction relative to the Sun. Sometimes the up side of the orbit is facing the Sun, and sometimes the down side. Twice a year, for about a month, what's facing the Sun is the line dividing the up and down sides. This is the line of nodes, the intersection of the Earth-Moon plane and the ecliptic or Earth-Sun plane. A solar eclipse can only occur at a New Moon that falls within one of these month-long eclipse seasons. That's when the Moon is close enough to the ecliptic to actually come between the Earth and the Sun. Download the full resolution version of this video from our Scientific Visualization Studio here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/det...

NASA Video

1.01M subscribers

Videos

About

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram