Solar Eclipse Cycles and Saros

Interpret the near equality of 223 synodic months, 242 draconic months, and 239 anomalistic months as the basis of the Saros cycle.

Explain why one Saros lasts about 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours.

Explain how the extra eight hours shift the next eclipse about one-third of the way around Earth in longitude.

Identify which characteristics of an eclipse recur after one Saros and which do not repeat exactly.

Describe how successive eclipses in a Saros series evolve from polar partial eclipses through central eclipses and back to polar partial eclipses.

Explain why many Saros series coexist and produce an interleaved sequence of eclipses.

Distinguish the Saros from an eclipse season and the three-Saros exeligmos by timescale and predictive use.