involved ,and the moons transit around the earth that during and eclipse the moon and the sun fit near enough perfectly?
2007-03-01 08:03:17 · 8 answers · asked by tunachunks199 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It is not only a coincidence of size but also of time. The Moon is slowly spiraling out from Earth at a few inches a year, because the tides are transferring energy from the rotation of the Earth into the orbit of the Moon, so that in the distant future the Moon will be too far away to appear as big as the Sun in our sky. But that will be millions of years in the future. By the way, that process is also slowing the rotation of the Earth, so that in that distant future a day will be longer than 24 hours.
2007-03-01 08:24:21 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is indeed just coincidence.
It hasn't always been that way, and it won't be again in the near future. Since the moon is receding from the earth (moving further away in its orbit), just a couple thousand years ago the moon appeared much larger...that still worked fine for solar eclipses (when the moon passes in front of the sun), and since the earth's shadow is larger than the earth, for lunar eclipses too.
But in another thousand years, the apparent size of the moon won't cover the sun anymore, and we'll never have total solar eclipses again -- only annular ones. We don't *always* have total eclipses now -- because the moon orbits in an ellipse, sometimes closer and sometimes further away, it doesn't cover the whole surface of the sun during every eclipse visible from earth...that's an annular eclipse.
You happen to live at a time when total solar eclipses are possible, and that's just a coincidence. Enjoy it while it lasts :)
2007-03-01 09:01:54 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its a matter of time. When our earth-moon system first formed, the moon was a lot closer to the earth and our day was a lot shorter. The moon has been receding about 4 cm a year and to conserve momentum in the entire system the earth's rotation has been slowing down.
So its not so much coincidence as timing that we are around to see this.
And in reality the moon actually appears a little smaller than the sun appears to be most of the time. The fact that earth's orbit and the moon's orbit are elliptical means that sometimes the moon is a little closer than average and the earth is a little farther from the sun than average.
2007-03-01 13:20:50 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope, I don't.
The Moon is gradually moving further away from the Earth. Millions of years ago an eclipse would not have had the same appearance as it does now. And, in a few million years from now, eclipses will look decidedly different.
2007-03-01 09:39:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anthony Stark 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When somebody gets blitzed, say by a flying piece of debris from a disintigrating drive chain on the motorway (happened here recently), you could ask the question "why him?"
people are less likely to say "why me?" when they win the big prize on lotto, but even so "why him?"
Scientists believe that a mass of coincidences have combined over billions of years to provide the habitat on this planet with the means to develop sentient beings. You could then ask why us, but that is only because we are here to ask "why us?".
All over the universe there will be billions of failed "attempts" at making worlds able to support advanced lifeforms.
One of the coincidental features of our planetary system is our overly large moon (in relation to its mother planet). That has been repsonsible for keeping the Earth a little more stable, adding to some of the safety factors that have enabled life to reach its present forms on this planet.
The relationship between the size of moon and sun maybe quiet coincidental, but all over the universe there will be quintrillions of moons that do NOT occasionally blot out their star in an exact eclipse.
Look at it like this - we are only here because of all these coincidences.
2007-03-01 08:24:32 · answer #5 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's just a coincidence. In a world as complex as the one we live in, it would be amazing if there weren't lots of coincidences out there.
Do you think that its more than a co-incidence that the Pacific ocean is 4.893 times the size of the Atlantic? I mean, I see the number 4.893 everywhere!! Maybe they'll make a movie about it!!
2007-03-01 08:09:09 · answer #6 · answered by morningfoxnorth 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think it's got something to do with the gravitational pull of the earth or it might be the sun I'm not sure. Could be the energy fields they're in. There's probably some scientific explanation for it.....
http://www.evcforum.net/cgi-bin/dm.cgi?action=msg&f=2&t=240&m=1
check this out - read message 9 of the forum.
2007-03-01 08:15:49 · answer #7 · answered by JD 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Frst of all your actually Lieing... you do not have gemini sunlight,moon,mercury,ascendant--- i think of your actually sunlight sign became Leo 2d of all your probable not lieing appropriate to the brother... Seven Capricorn ??? good god........ a minimum of he's a guy particularly of lady that could probable spotlight the unfavorable characteristics of Capricorn lots extra
2016-10-17 01:05:32 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋