# Coincidental eclipses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853 "2010-12-20T17:34:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/1 "2010-12-20T17:34:36Z")
There will be a lunar eclipse early tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, the same day as the winter solstice. This hasn’t happened since 1554 AD. What I’m wondering is: Has there ever been, or will there ever be, a total \*solar \*eclipse coinciding with a solstice or equinox? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/2 "2010-12-20T17:47:31Z")
And not only that, it is the night of the full moon as well! Lunar eclipses can ONLY happen at full moon ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/3 "2010-12-21T00:00:20Z")
I don’t know how closely you would time the “coincidence,” but on Mar 20, 2015, there will be a total solar eclipse in the mid-morning (UTC) over Iceland; the vernal quinox occurs that night at 22:45 UTC. > **[NASA - Solar Eclipse Page](https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html)** > > This is NASA's official solar eclipse page. It contains maps and tables > for 5,000 years of lunar eclipses and includes information on eclipse > photography and observing tips. > **[Equinox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox)** > > A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and set "due west". This occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September.\[a\] > More precisely, an equinox is traditionally defined as the time when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the geometric center of the Sun's disk. Equivalently, this is t... ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/4 "2010-12-21T00:01:52Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There will be a lunar eclipse early tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, the same day as the winter solstice. This hasn’t happened since 1554 AD. What I’m wondering is: Has there ever been, or will there ever be, a total \*solar \*eclipse coinciding with a solstice or equinox? The nodes of the moon’s orbit (which are the points at which the moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic, and a solar or lunar eclipse can only occur when the moon is at one node or the other) move all the way around the ecliptic on an approximately 18.6 year cycle. They don’t avoid the solstices or equinoxes. There’s no reason why there couldn’t be a solar eclipse on a solstice or equinox. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/5 "2010-12-21T00:16:14Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > I don’t know how closely you would time the “coincidence,” That, of course, is the issue. Tonight’s lunar eclipse and the summer solstice are separated by more than 15 hours. And they don’t occur on the same day here anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/6 "2010-12-21T01:19:32Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Tonight’s lunar eclipse and the summer solstice are separated by more than 15 hours. I’d say that tonight’s eclipse is separated by a good six months or so from the summer solstice. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/7 "2010-12-21T01:43:44Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > I’d say that tonight’s eclipse is separated by a good six months or so from the summer solstice. Not if you’re in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/8 "2010-12-21T01:46:13Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > That, of course, is the issue. Tonight’s lunar eclipse and the summer solstice are separated by more than 15 hours. And they don’t occur on the same day here anyway. You Australians, so contrary. When we say it’s day, you say it’s night. We say winter, you say summer. :p:p ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/9 "2010-12-21T01:55:19Z")
The Moon is going to turn to blood at the solstice. Why am I the only one concerned about this? I mean, this has got to be one of the top five Evil portents of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/10 "2010-12-21T02:03:27Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > You Australians, so contrary. When we say it’s day, you say it’s night. We say winter, you say summer. :p:p Aw, be nice. Upper elevations of New South Wales and Victoria got a foot of snow last night, just before the summer solstice Down Under. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/11 "2010-12-21T12:44:43Z")
I saw the total eclipse of [June 21, 2001](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_June_21,_2001) in Zambia. The summer solstice was at 07:38 UTC, which is just less than three hours before the earliest possible visibility of the total eclipse, at 10:35UTC in the south Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/12 "2010-12-21T14:47:51Z")
[I started a similar thread a while back.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11995421&postcount=1) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/13 "2010-12-21T15:12:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There will be a lunar eclipse early tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, the same day as the winter solstice. This hasn’t happened since 1554 AD. What I’m wondering is: Has there ever been, or will there ever be, a total \*solar \*eclipse coinciding with a solstice or equinox? Most assuredly. There are on average about two total solar eclipses every three years, with an average duration of roughly eight hours. (By average duration I mean the average time the eclipse is total from somewhere on earth; the duration from any one location is less than eight minutes.) In other words we have totality for about (2/3) \* (1/3) = 0.22 days every year, out of 365. Taking the reciprocal, any given time (such as an equinox or solstice) will occur during an eclipse about once every 1,650 years–a long time, but an eye-blink in the history of the planet. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidental-eclipses/564853/14 "2010-12-21T15:47:34Z")
IT was too cloudy to see it here. :mad: