EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Any point on Earth may on the average experience no more than one total solar eclipse in three to four centuries. The situation is quite different for lunar eclipses. An observer remaining at the same place (and granted cloudless skies) could see 19 or 20 lunar eclipses in 18 years.

Detailed explanation-2: -Total solar eclipses occur, on the average, about once every 18 months somewhere on Earth and recur in the same place roughly once every 360 years.

Detailed explanation-3: -In any given location on Earth, a total eclipse happens only once every 360 years. Eclipses of the Moon by the Earth’s shadow are actually less numerous than solar eclipses; however, each lunar eclipse is visible from over half the Earth.

Detailed explanation-4: -Generally, total solar eclipses are visible every 400 years from any one place.

Detailed explanation-5: -Solar eclipses are fairly numerous, about 2 to 4 per year, but the area on the ground covered by totality is only about 50 miles wide. In any given location on Earth, a total eclipse happens only once every hundred years or so, though for selected locations they can occur as little as a few years apart.