Motion of the Moon: Eclipses

Initializing live version
Download to Desktop

Requires a Wolfram Notebook System

Interact on desktop, mobile and cloud with the free Wolfram Player or other Wolfram Language products.

This Demonstration simulates the orbital motion of the Moon around the Earth, while the Earth is in orbit around the Sun. When the two orbits are aligned just right, a solar eclipse can occur on day zero and a lunar eclipse on day 15. When the orbits are otherwise tilted, eclipses do not occur, but we get new moon and full moon phases.

[more]

The drawing is not to scale. The Earth's position is taken as the frame of reference.

[less]

Contributed by: Marvin De Jong (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


Snapshots


Details



Feedback (field required)
Email (field required) Name
Occupation Organization
Note: Your message & contact information may be shared with the author of any specific Demonstration for which you give feedback.
Send