This frequency of solar eclipses is more realistic explain?

Answer 1

There are, in general, two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses each year. Sometimes the Sun, Moon and Earth don't line up QUITE accurately, and instead of having one total eclipse, we get two partial eclipses a month apart. The lowest possible number of solar eclipses in any calendar year is one; the maximum is five, which would work out to two partial solar eclipses in January, one total eclipse in July, and two partials in December. Both extremes are pretty rare.

We _see_ many more lunar eclipses than solar eclipses, even though the numbers are approximately equal. The Moon is a lot smaller than the Earth, and so the Moon's shadow is much smaller yet. A solar eclipse is visible only across a fairly narrow path along the surface of the Earth. Only people along that path can experience the eclipse. The total phase of a solar eclipse never lasts longer than 8 minutes. For a partial eclipse, it is likely that a lot of people won't notice the eclipse at all, because even if half the Sun were blocked, the other half of the Sun would continue to provide plenty of light. It might feel as if a thin cloud layer had dimmed the Sun slightly.

A lunar eclipse, on the other hand, happens ON THE MOON, and everybody on the night half of the Earth can see it. Even for a partial eclipse, it's very visible. The Earth is much larger than the Moon, and the Earth's shadow is large enough to completely darken the entire Moon and keep it mostly dark for over an hour.