This may seem like a stupid question, but how come during solar eclipses the moon happens to be an almost perfect for over the sun? Especially considering the fact that they are so different in size and distance from the Earth? Is this coincidental?
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It is a coincidence, yeah. In the past, the moon was much closer to the earth and covered the sun much more. In the future, the moon will drift farther away from the earth and not cover much of the sun anymore.
That’s all. We just luckily are alive when the two are approximately the same visual size based on their current distances (and real sizes).
It is all about perspective. The sun is much farther away from us than the moon so it appears much smaller to us than it actually is. This is why the moon can eclipse the sun during a solar eclipse.
Yes actually it is purely coincidental and AFAIK earth is the only place in the solar system where a perfect solar eclipse is possible
The other answers are right, but they should mention the SPECTACULAR coincidence.
The moon is 400x smaller diameter, but also 400x closer to us. The fact that it’s the same factor is a complete coincidence, but that’s why the sizes match so closely. The moon is smaller but closer…**by the same amount.**
It’s like when you’re standing close to a big building and you step back and realize it’s actually much bigger. The sun is way bigger than the moon, but it’s also way farther away from us, so from our perspective, they look about the same size.
It’s actually a coincidence. The moon is exactly the right amount closer to us than the sun so that they appear to be the same size. It’s about 400 times smaller and also 400 times closer. This probably wasn’t always the case and it won’t always be the case in the future; the moon’s orbit is moving further and further from Earth over time, and this is an inevitable phase of that journey, which makes it not quite as shocking a coincidence as some people like to portray. But it is pretty cool anyway, since it allows the moon to eclipse the sun perfectly at this point in the solar system’s development.
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