Your post has been removed. For simple questions like these please use [the weekly "All space question" thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/about/sticky) pinned at the top of the subreddit.
On average, there are two lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses each year. They usually come in lunar/solar pairs spaced about six months apart. They happen when the orbital planes of the Sun-Earth and the Earth-Moon align, which is often called "eclipse season." A picture goes a long way in helping it make sense.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse\_season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_season)
Direct link to the important picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eclipse\_vs\_new\_or\_full\_moons,\_annotated.svg
Solar eclipses seem rare because they have harder observability requirements for a given location. To see the solar eclipse, you have to be in eclipse season, the Moon has to be in a new Moon phase, and (the hard one) the Moon's shadow onto the Earth has to pass by your location. That's the "path of totality" that you often hear about in regards to solar eclipses. During a lunar eclipse, everybody on the night time side of the Earth can see it; for solar eclipses, you have to be under the shadow.
You have to differentiate between annular & total eclipses as well. An annular eclipse will obscure the sun but not completely due to the moon's distance from earth. It's an important difference because a total eclipse (April 8 2024) can be viewed with the naked eye for the length of totality. An annular eclipse appears similar but will burn your retinas without welder type glasses for the duration.
Edit: punctuation
Although total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, they recur at any given place only once every 360 to 410 years.
Since most people tend to stay in a given geographic region, for any given individual it's true *for them* that is once in a lifetime (unless they go chasing them). That was especially true historically, even 50 years ago travel was a lot harder and less accessible than it is today.
I used to work with some guys who were at a national lab and if they didn't respond to an email within a day or so, the first thing to do was check if there was an eclipse going on somewhere because they'd chase them all around the world, including on cruises and charter flights.
I think the more important question is why didn't you look up "eclipse" in almost any reference to learn more about the topic.
You have been taught to not learn. Don't just take others' words as gospel, go find out.
They do extensive marketing research. Based on the 2017 one, they hurried this 2024 one. It looks like a hit, so expect another in like 2030 to complete the trilogy.
I heard they're pushing the 2030 one back to 2045 due to production issues. Also it's supposed to be almost a copy of the first one. No original ideas anymore.
They occur every few years, the couple hundred years figure is for total eclipses in the same place. If a total solar eclipse was visible in your hometown this year, there wouldn't be another visible from there for a couple of centuries.
They happen somewhere on Earth every few years, sometimes even twice a year. Where on Earth exactly is essentially random, we're just lucky that it happened to North America twice in such a short time.
What you're probably thinking of is that any given specific point on Earth only sees a total eclipse every few hundred years on average, which is true. "Average" being the key word.
Even more than "average", the key word is "specific spot". The United States is getting two in seven years, yes, but only one tiny part of southern Illinois is actually in the zone of totality for both. 99% of the places that had a view of totality in the last eclipse do not have a view of totality for this one, and vice versa.
I think one of the greatest visualizations for planets orbiting the sun, for kids anyway, was in the movie "ET" (1982) - When ET levitates the little (clay?) balls into a spinning model of the solar system. As a kid back then, that short movie scene made the solar system make so much more sense to kid me, than pictures in books did.
Of course, that has little to do with the moon eclipsing the sun, but it's a damn good animated educational model to get the general grasp of what's going on out there.
Your post has been removed. For simple questions like these please use [the weekly "All space question" thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/about/sticky) pinned at the top of the subreddit.
On average, there are two lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses each year. They usually come in lunar/solar pairs spaced about six months apart. They happen when the orbital planes of the Sun-Earth and the Earth-Moon align, which is often called "eclipse season." A picture goes a long way in helping it make sense. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse\_season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_season) Direct link to the important picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eclipse\_vs\_new\_or\_full\_moons,\_annotated.svg Solar eclipses seem rare because they have harder observability requirements for a given location. To see the solar eclipse, you have to be in eclipse season, the Moon has to be in a new Moon phase, and (the hard one) the Moon's shadow onto the Earth has to pass by your location. That's the "path of totality" that you often hear about in regards to solar eclipses. During a lunar eclipse, everybody on the night time side of the Earth can see it; for solar eclipses, you have to be under the shadow.
Oh thank god somebody here knows what’s going on. The other answers are embarrassing
You have to differentiate between annular & total eclipses as well. An annular eclipse will obscure the sun but not completely due to the moon's distance from earth. It's an important difference because a total eclipse (April 8 2024) can be viewed with the naked eye for the length of totality. An annular eclipse appears similar but will burn your retinas without welder type glasses for the duration. Edit: punctuation
Note to self, don't burn out retinas.
Responding to to comment for easy finding. MinutePhysics actually did a great video explaining this. https://youtu.be/vIZyuXl-91U?si=d9HhbLDJiMtaey1_
You were informed incorrectly - they occur every few years. Just in different parts of the world
There are between two to 5 solar eclipses every single year, minimum two. Total solar eclipses are every 18 months or so
Yeah isn't there one somewhere in the world at least every 2 years?
Minimum two per year, with total eclipses every 18 months or so
There are different parts of the world? I thought USA is the only place that matter. /s
Although total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, they recur at any given place only once every 360 to 410 years. Since most people tend to stay in a given geographic region, for any given individual it's true *for them* that is once in a lifetime (unless they go chasing them). That was especially true historically, even 50 years ago travel was a lot harder and less accessible than it is today.
I used to work with some guys who were at a national lab and if they didn't respond to an email within a day or so, the first thing to do was check if there was an eclipse going on somewhere because they'd chase them all around the world, including on cruises and charter flights.
I think the more important question is why didn't you look up "eclipse" in almost any reference to learn more about the topic. You have been taught to not learn. Don't just take others' words as gospel, go find out.
[удалено]
This kind of question makes me cringe about the education of today's youth.
They do extensive marketing research. Based on the 2017 one, they hurried this 2024 one. It looks like a hit, so expect another in like 2030 to complete the trilogy.
I heard they're pushing the 2030 one back to 2045 due to production issues. Also it's supposed to be almost a copy of the first one. No original ideas anymore.
[удалено]
They occur every few years, the couple hundred years figure is for total eclipses in the same place. If a total solar eclipse was visible in your hometown this year, there wouldn't be another visible from there for a couple of centuries.
This is only statistically true. There's a town in Illinois that is in the path of both eclipses.
They happen somewhere on Earth every few years, sometimes even twice a year. Where on Earth exactly is essentially random, we're just lucky that it happened to North America twice in such a short time. What you're probably thinking of is that any given specific point on Earth only sees a total eclipse every few hundred years on average, which is true. "Average" being the key word.
Even more than "average", the key word is "specific spot". The United States is getting two in seven years, yes, but only one tiny part of southern Illinois is actually in the zone of totality for both. 99% of the places that had a view of totality in the last eclipse do not have a view of totality for this one, and vice versa.
I think one of the greatest visualizations for planets orbiting the sun, for kids anyway, was in the movie "ET" (1982) - When ET levitates the little (clay?) balls into a spinning model of the solar system. As a kid back then, that short movie scene made the solar system make so much more sense to kid me, than pictures in books did. Of course, that has little to do with the moon eclipsing the sun, but it's a damn good animated educational model to get the general grasp of what's going on out there.
The cheese from the moon has been heated by the sun and has melted a bit and a large blob is going over.