sir, total solar eclipse occurs when moon blocks the sun light. but on ordinary days we see the size of moon to be smaller than that of sun . but on total eclipse the size of moon which we see is same as that of sun, so that it is able to block the sun completely. what is the reason does moon come closer to earth on that day . kindly give reply to my query. thanks.

The Moon always appears roughly the same size as the Sun even on days when we do not see eclipses. Its orbit is not perfectly circular. So sometimes it appears a tiny bit larger and sometime a tiny bit smaller. This is observed in some eclipses. The reason we do not have an eclipse every new moon is that normally the Moon passes just above or just below the Sun on the sky. It is only very rarely that they exactly line up to give a total solar eclipse.

This page was last updated Jan 28, 2019.