WHAT HELPS THE MOON IN ORBIT AROUND THE EARTH?
Gravity is what keeps anything in orbit. The Moon is pulled towards the Earth’s gravity. And yes, there will be loads of solar and lunar eclipses over the next 60 years. Most eclipses are a) only partial – ie not the whole of the Moon or Sun is covered by the other; and b) considering 75% of the Earth is covered by water, chances are it’ll be over the ocean, so it won’t be visible by a lot of the Earth’s surface. Next major total solar eclipse will be on May 20th 2012, over China, Japan, the Pacific, and the west coast of the USA, so if you want to see one I’d try for that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclip… Lunar eclipses: nowhere near as exciting as solar ones, but still impressive; I’ve seen one before and it was pretty fun. Unlike solar eclipses, you can see lunar ones from anywhere on Earth which is in the middle of the night; the next one will be a partial one on 26th June this year, an
Gravity causes the Moon to orbit the Earth. A common analogy is to imagine someone holding a sheet of fabric so it is tight and placing a baseball in the middle so it creates a dip in the sheet. Then try rolling a ping pong ball past the baseball, and it will roll in a curved line because there is a dip in the sheet caused by the baseball. The Earth creates a dip in space, if you will, and the Moon essentially rolls around it.
Gravity pulls the Moon toward Earth, but the Moon’s velocity tangential to that force keeps in continuously “falling” at the same altitude, which is what we call orbit. The next lunar eclipse will be on June 26 of this year, visible from eastern Asia, across the Pacific, and into western North America. It will be a total eclipse. The next solar eclipse will be on July 11 of this year, visible only in the South Pacific. It will also be a total eclipse.
