Explain why we do not see eclipse each month.?

Question

Ok, please keep the answers somewhat simple! I've gotten answers that were like, 6 pages long, it only wastes your time and mine....

Answer 1

Picture this - take a basketball, and put 2 rubber bands around it. The rubber bands cross each other at 2 places only. Keep that in mind.

The moon orbits the Earth like one of those rubber bands, but the sun moves in the Earth's sky like the other rubber band. Those points where the orbits cross (called the orbital nodes) are within about a month of the spring and autumn equinoxes. So the only time we could have a lunar or a solar eclipse is at those 2 places where the orbits appear to cross.
And in fact we do have a lunar eclipse about twice a year.
Solar eclipses are less common, because the shadow the moon casts is very narrow, and that shadow has to extend to the Earth's surface for us to see a solar eclipse.
The moon's orbit is elliptical (an oval), so sometimes its farther from the Earth than at other times.
So if the moon is farther from the Earth than normal at the time it crosses that point in space, then it also appears smaller and the shadow it casts isn't long enough to reach the surface.

Answer 2

Because the plane of the orbit of the moon about the earth does not match the plane of the ecliptic (which is the apparent path of the sun in the sky).

So, the only time there is either a solar or lunar eclipse is when the moon crosses the ecliptic and the sun is either at that particular spot at that particular time, or is almost exactly 180 degrees away. In the first instance there will be a solar eclipse, and in the second a lunar eclipse.

Answer 3

The moon's orbit is not on the same plane as the earth's orbit, so sometimes it is too low to block the sun or to get in the earth's shadow, and sometimes it is too high.