The Moon can block the Sun completely during a solar eclipse because the Sun is far, far away. Is it then pure coincidence that the Moon almost completely fits the Sun’s outline, or could we’ve had solar eclipses with a much smaller Moon, thus blocking the sun only very partially?

Question

Title.

In: Physics

Answer 1

There are many interesting relationships between the sun, moon, and earth.

– It would take 108 moons, stretched end to end, to cover the distance between the earth and the moon.

– It would take 108 suns, stretched end to end, to cover the distance between the earth and the sun.

– The moon’s radius is 1,080 miles. The sun’s radius is 432,000 miles. Notice how 108 * 4 = 432.

– There are 864,000 seconds in one day, or 432,000 seconds in half of one day (12 hours); notice how these are the same as the sun’s radius and diameter in miles.

– The moon takes 30 days to fully encircle the earth (this is one moonth). There are 24 hours in each day, making 432,000 hours in one moonth, or 2,592,000 seconds in one moonth.

– The fixed stars in the night sky (the constellations of the zodiac) fully encircle the earth every 25,920 years, there’s that number 25920 again.

– The sun precesses against the fixed stars at a rate of 1 degree every 72 years, approximately the average human lifespan. At this rate, it takes 25,920 years for the sun to fully precess through a complete 360 deg circle of the constellations.

– The moon’s radius of 1,080 miles, when multiplied by 24 (the number of hours in a day) equals 4,320. When multiplied by 60 (number of minutes in each hour) we get 25,920 again.

– 25,920 when divided by 432 equals 60, the same number we use seconds per minute and minutes per hour.

– 432 divided in half gives 216, a number similar to the 2,160 miles of the moon’s diameter. The number 432 when doubled gives 864, similar to the 864,000 miles of the sun’s diameter.

– The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. The number 432 * 432 = 186,624.

Perhaps these are all coincidences. LOL!