Why isn't there a solar and lunar eclipse each month?

Answer 1

The Moon is tilted by about five degrees with respect to the Earth's orbit so the shadows usually miss each other.-Dylan Wilson

Answer 2

Because when the moon passes behind earth, it's usually slightly below or above the path of light from the sun to earth. This allows it to get fully lit from the sun. A lunar eclipse only happens when it passes right through the plane of the sun and the earth, with the earth in between.

Answer 3

To have either a solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse, the sun, earth and moon must be oriented in a straight line. However, the moon revolves around the earth in an orbit which is tilted, so it is not always lined up correctly when it passes between the sun and earth, or when it is on the far side of the earth in the case of a lunar eclipse; e.g., most of the time when the moon is closest to the sun in its orbit around the earth, it is 'above' or 'below' the earth.

Answer 4

The Moon's orbital path, is not perfectly circular around the Earth and more importantly the plane of the orbit does not coincide with the Earths orbit around the Sun. The Moon's orbit is at a slight tilt (about 5 degrees to the plane of the Equator) around the Earth which causes the Moon to be 'above' or 'below' the line between the Earth and the Sun. If the Moon's orbit was not at a tilt and if the axis of the Earth were not tilted, there would be a lunar eclipse every month at full moon and a solar eclipse on the equator every new Moon.

Answer 5

In order for a solar or lunar eclipse to happen the positions of the sun, earth, and moon must be in a specific order.

They do not align in this very often a solar & lunar eclipse can't happen every month

Hopes it helps :)

Edit : The reason is that the plane of the Moon's orbit is tilted at over 5 degrees

to the Earth's orbit.

Answer 6

Lunar (and solar) eclipses do not occur every month because the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted 5.14 degrees with respect to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Eclipses only occur when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are lined up in a straight line, and that does not occur every month.

Because Earth's orbit around the Sun and Moon's orbit around Earth are tilted 5 degrees, so sometimes Moon passes below or over Earth's shadow.

We don't get a lunar eclipse (earth obscuring the sun to the moon) or a solar eclipse (moon obscuring the sun to earth) every month, since the alignment of the sun, moon and Earth is not exact enough. The moon sun and earth are not on the exact same plane, so most of the time when the moon passes in front of the sun, it is either too low or too high to cause a solar eclipse. The new moon passes `below` the sun or 'above' it rather than directly in front of it. Its a similar story with a lunar eclipse, there is a higher chance of a lunar eclipse as the earth is larger than the moon, giving a larger target, but even with this in mind, the earth seen from the moon will either pass below the moon or above it most of the time.

Answer 7

The earth moves around the sun in a very slow orbit that takes just over 365 days. The moon orbits the earth at a different rate of just under 28 days. The repetition rate of alignment when he sun falls between the earth and the moon or the moon falls between the sun and the earth is predictable but not monthly.

Answer 8

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon's shadow falls on Earth, blocking the Sun's light. Lunar eclipses occur when Earth's shadow falls on the Moon. The reason there isn't one of each every month is due to the specific alignment of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, which must be in a straight line for an eclipse to occur.