solar eclipse?!! lunar eclipse?!?! what moon phases are they?

Answer 1

An eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon gets in your sight of the Sun. When the moon is more or less between Sun and Earth you can’t see it, because it's too close to the Sun and there’s too much sunlight in the sky for you to see an object that lacks self illumination —same way that you can’t see stars—. That’s why that phase is called New Moon: it virtually disappears from sky and seems as though it’s about to begin growing in the following days.

In order to have an eclipse of the Moon, Earth has to position itself between Moon and Sun, so Earth’s shadow covers the Moon. Since Earth is nearly in-between, the whole Moon’s visible hemisphere reflects light from the Sun and sends it back to your eyes. Thus, you see a complete circle. A Full circle.
And this is the explanation for a usual phenomenon: if there was a moon eclipse today (meaning it’s Full Moon), in half a month Moon will be in the other side of the planet, showing a New phase and no visible face and a Sun eclipse is likely to happen (and viceversa).
See it by yourself starting March 3, 2007 (moon eclipse) and March 17, Sun's.

Answer 2

Given if the earth moon and sun were in a straight line,
they would happen twice a month , one lunar (earth between
moon and sun) at full moon, and one 2 weeks later at new
moon (solar eclipse). But they are not as the Sun and earth
have their own orbit tilt, and the moon and earth have their
own orbit tilt. So you are looking at three different planes
of orbit. Now there is a time when these orbits cross each
other and that point is called a node. So when the earth
moon and sun hit at a node, an eclipse happens.
The Earth shadow is expanse due to size and distance from
the sun. Consequently, the moon enters the earths shadow
(lunar eclipse) a lot more frequent than the moon shadow
hitting the earth (solar eclipse) but is usually partial
and not a total eclipse.
More info and diagrams available by email

Answer 3

A solar eclipse occurs only on a new moon and a full lunar eclipse only occurs on a full moon. This is because the light we see from the moon is actually reflected sunlight. The only way we can see reflected sunlight if is if Earth is between the moon and the sun, at least to some degree. This also explains lunar phases.

Answer 4

Solar eclipse has to occur during a new moon. Lunar eclipse has to occur during a full moon.
It is all a matter of alignement, the sun, the earth and the moon in a straight line.

Answer 5

solar eclipse,new moon,lunar eclipse, full moon