Lunar eclipse coincidence or why?

Question

i'm a radical atheist, but what has always intrigued me is the way the circumference of the moon fits so precisely over the circumference of the sun during eclipse, such perfection even allowing magnetic extrusions from the suns surface to be seen at 100% eclipse, surely means distance between earth-moon and moon- sun have to be incredibly accurate. s'not quite enough to turn me into a believer, but my mind boggles at the coincidental accuracy

Answer 1

First it is purely coincidental. The moon is slowly moving away from earth, so in the past it would have blocked the sun more (hiding the corona) and in the future it will not block the sun properly.

However, it doesn't always manage to block the sun completely!

An annular eclipse occurs when the moon is close to apogee (point on the elliptical orbit furthest from earth) and the sun is close to perihelion (point on the elliptical orbit closest to the sun).

In this configuration, the moon has a small angular size than the sun and doesn't block it out properly.

There even a picture of an annular eclipse on the Wikipedia solar eclipse page!

Answer 2

it's just because of the time we live in.... early in the moon's existence if you were to look up from earth at the moon, it would appear to be 15 times bigger... becuase it was a alot closer....

and down the line a few thousand years and eclipses will be a thing of the past.... the moon will no longer be completely proportianate, to either the solar or lunar eclipses.

it is a coincidence that man appears around the time that solar/lunar eclipses start loooking more like we know them today.... but that's the only reason behind it... you can rest assured there is no grand design behind it.. it's just miraculous timing.

Answer 3

Purely coincidental. The Sun is 400 times larger than the Moon but 400 times more distant so they appear to be the same size.

♣

Answer 4

What a lot of people don't realise is that the angular sizes of the moon and the sun don't always match. There have been eclipses when the moon didn't quite manage to cover the sun up, it left a ring of the sun around it. It's called Annular Eclipse.

The match between the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon during a total eclipse is a coincidence. The Sun's distance from the Earth is about 400 times the Moon's distance, and the Sun's diameter is about 400 times the Moon's diameter. Because these ratios are approximately the same, the sizes of the Sun and the Moon as seen from Earth appear to be approximately the same: about 0.5 degree of arc in angular measure.

Because the Moon's orbit around the Earth is an ellipse, as is the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon vary.

Answer 5

it is a coincidence, but it will not always be the case. The moon is only the right distance away now. In several tens of millions of years it will be too far away.

Answer 6

Yes, it is precisely that, a coincidence.

The Moon is about 400 times smaller than the Sun but at the same time the Moon is about 400 times closer. So, it just happens that they appear to be the same size and we get to see these amazing events, solar eclipses - at the moment...

For it hasn't always been so. The Moon is very slowly drifting away from us and in a few million years time will be too far away to make total solar eclipses, annular eclipses, yes. In the past the Moon was somewhat closer and eclipses were more commonplace.

Also, the peculiarities of the Moon's orbit, and Earth's around the Sun, mean that the alignment and apparent sizes are not always just right. All the same, eclipses are a spectacular sight.

Answer 7

The same reason the planets are round.

Answer 8

I remember my physics teacher at school telling us she wasn't particularly a believer but she was totally overawed by this physical fact. It really is mindboggling.

Water freezes at 0°C. As water cools, it contracts, as all things tend to do. As it warms up, it expands. Normal.

BUT when water gets to 4°, it is at its most compact. When it goes down to three degrees, it starts to expand again. Two degrees, it expands more. And so on. As it expands, it goes to the surface because it is lighter so it floats.

So when fish etc are in ponds and the water starts freezing, the frozen, solid ice is on the top of the pond and they are safe in the water underneath!

Wow!

And, by the way, wow! again at your observation! It's true, that's what happens!