Cool Moon Facts by Whip

Real astronomy, with sources. Folklore & tradition.

Fact #054 Observing

Lunar eclipses are no more common than solar ones. You will still see far more of them in your life.

A solar eclipse paints a shadow track a couple of hundred kilometres wide; you have to be in it. A lunar eclipse is visible from the entire night side of Earth at once, which is half the planet. Nearly everyone has seen a lunar eclipse and comparatively few have seen totality of a solar one.

Source: NASA eclipse resources (opens in a new tab) · checked Aug 2026

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