Why do solar eclipses happen?

Because the moon goes in front of the sun...Show more

Because there's a Moon. Once in a while it gets in front of the Sun and blots it out for a few minutes. Just like anything else gets blotted out if someone stands in front of it.

The Moon goes round the Earth every 29 1/2 days in an orbit that is almost lined up with the Earth's orbit round the Sun. So at different times of the month it's in a different place in the sky compared with where the Sun is, and you also see it differently depending on how far around the orbit it is - crescent, half, full circle, or any shape in between. At New Moon, you can't see it at all, because it's in the same part of the sky as the Sun, and the Sun is lighting up the back so the side facing us is dark.

If the two orbits were exactly in line, then obviously every time we had New Moon each month, there would be an eclipse. But they're at a small angle to each other, so this doesn't happen every month. Most times the Moon passes a bit above or below where the Sun is, so there's no eclipse. But if there's a New Moon AND the Moon is at one of the two places where the two orbits cross, then the Earth, Moon and Sun are in a dead straight line and the Moon is in the way of our view of the Sun. It blocks it out. This doesn't last long because the Earth and Moon are still moving.

It is a coincidence that the Sun and Moon appear to be the same size. The Sun is 400 times bigger, but it's also 400 times further away. So the Moon EXACTLY covers the Sun and a total eclipse looks as spectacular as it does. If the Moon were bigger, the Sun would just disappear for a while and you wouldn't see the Sun's corona. If it were a lot smaller, there would just be a black circle moving across the Sun. (The planets Mercury and Venus do this very occasionally, then it's called a transit, and all anyone sees is a tiny black dot moving across the Sun.)

All three line up like this every year or two. But you're not going to see it that often because the Sun and Moon appear to be the same size, so the shadow that the Moon casts on the Earth is only a few miles wide. If you're on either side of the "path of totality", the line-up isn't quite exact and you see a partial eclipse. The Moon covers some of the Sun but not all of it. If you want to see the eclipse properly total, you need to be very lucky to be in the right place, or travel to where it is! And there are people who do this just to see it.

This is why there's so much fuss about this one. The path of totality will go right across the USA, and that's a rare event....Show more

its a shadow the moon blocks the sun because the size of the moon is the same as the apparent size of the sun .. that makes the sun blocked almost completely by the MOON.....Show more

Questions like this have been asked at least 50 times in the past few days. I invite you to read through all the answers. that have already been given....Show more

well, koby already explained it. The thing is that the moon goes around the earth (duh..), and is nearer to the earth. the son is farther. So in all that movement, while the moon is moving and the earth is rotating around the sun, once in a while, for a big coincidence, the moon is exactly on the way, as an obstacle to the sun....like hiding it but not quite, because the sun is bigger...but it seems they are almost of the same size because the sun is farther...and thats why and how an eclipse happens.

do not look at it, because it might damage your vision...not today...but on the long run....Show more