Why do eclipses only last a few minutes?

Answer 1

Well, not really; the total solar eclipse can last about 5 hours. But the point of totality moves right along, as the Moon moves and the Earth spins. So the longest period of "total eclipse" that you would see if you were standing still on the Earth is a little less than 8 minutes, tops.

Answer 2

First note that there are 2 sorts of eclipse, Solar eclipses (when the Moon gets between Earth and the Sun) and Lunar eclipses (when the Earth gets between the Moon and the Sun). Solar eclipses only last for a few minutes, while Lunar eclipses last an hour or more.

During a total Solar eclipse, the Moon's umbra (shadow) moves rapidly from west to east across the Earth. The Earth is also rotating from west to east, but the umbra always moves faster than any given point on the Earth's surface, so it almost always appears to move in a roughly west-east direction across a map of the Earth.

Thus while shadow of the Moon may be on the earth for several hours, the speed at which the moon's shadow moves across the earth is equal to the speed of the moon traveling along its orbit, minus the speed of the earth's rotation.

The speed of the shadow at the equator is about 1706 km/hr (about 1060 mph); near the poles, where the speed of rotation is virtually zero, it is about 3380 km/hr (about 2100 mph). The width of the track of a total eclipse varies according to the relative apparent diameters of the Sun and Moon and in the most favorable circumstances, when a total eclipse occurs very close to perigee, the track can be over 250 km wide.

Thus at a point on the path of a total solar eclipse, the time of totality can be calculated from the size of the moon's shadow and from its speed and when you go to see a total eclipse you place yourself on the ground to intersect the track.

Therefore your time in totality depends on how big the shadow is as it passes over you and about the maximum time you can get in totality is about 7 minutes (a 250 km shadow traveling at 1706 km/hour), but these eclipses are very rare and usually the duration of totality is much shorter.

Answer 3

A solar eclipse actually lasts for nearly six HOURS; however, the "path of totality" moves very quickly across the surface of the Earth. If you were standing precisely in the center of the eclipse path, it would pass over in only a few minutes.

Between the speed of the Earth spinning and the speed of the Moon orbiting the Earth, the area of totality appears to move at about 2,000 miles per hour.

Answer 4

No a Solar Eclipse can not last for 3 hours it only lasts for a couple of seconds.

Answer 5

It last a short time because all the planets involved are constantly moving.