(This text was first revealed in 2016 and has been up to date).
The Moon’s orbit intersects Earth’s orbit across the Solar — the ecliptic — at two factors known as nodes. When this intersection happens very close to to when the Solar, Moon, and Earth all align, we get an eclipse. Three elements have an effect on the slope of a solar eclipse’s path of totality: the gap of the Moon from the node, Earth’s season, and whether or not the eclipse happens on the ascending or descending node.
How far our satellite is from the node when the three our bodies align impacts the trail. Principally, which means all eclipse paths don’t start on the similar latitude. The Moon’s umbra, or shadow, can intersect Earth anyplace between its north and south poles. As a basic rule, nevertheless, the paths of any two eclipses falling on a sure date and which observe by means of the identical hemisphere will seem related.
Concerning the seasons, the final guidelines say that if we’re speaking about eclipses when the Moon’s place is comparatively near the node, then eclipses occurring inside two months of the September equinox are likely to have central paths operating northwest to southeast. Likewise, eclipses occurring inside two months of the March equinox are likely to have central paths operating southwest to northeast.
Eclipses occurring on the ascending node (when the Moon crosses the ecliptic heading northward) have a tendency to maneuver usually northeast. These on the descending node have a tendency to maneuver from northwest to southeast.
So, though the 2017 and 2024 eclipses each happen on the ascending node, the 2017 occasion is inside two months of the September equinox, whereas the 2024 one is near the March equinox. That’s why the Moon’s shadow strikes in several instructions.
