Likelihood of moon and sun appearing equal in size

[Peregrine]

Must be thinking of Phobos that is getting closer to Mars and will either impact it or become a ring someday. Wish I could live to be 50 million to see that.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by RaveOnn

Coincidence is the official explanation then?

I think it could be argued that the issue is more one of perception.

For example, every day we go about our business and sometimes we notice something because a pattern or coincidence etc.

Like if the lottery numbers come up as your birthday you notice but not other days or if it comes up something odd like 777 or 666.

Or you get rear ended by a VW 3 times in 5 years...so you have a fear about VW's driving behind you.

There are millions of opportunities for weird patterns or notable things to appear meaningful.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Must be thinking of Phobos that is getting closer to Mars and will either impact it or become a ring someday. Wish I could live to be 50 million to see that.

I'd love to live long enough to see Betelguese go super nova.

[RaveOnn]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I think it could be argued that the issue is more one of perception.

For example, every day we go about our business and sometimes we notice something because a pattern or coincidence etc.

Like if the lottery numbers come up as your birthday you notice but not other days or if it comes up something odd like 777 or 666.

Or you get rear ended by a VW 3 times in 5 years...so you have a fear about VW's driving behind you.

There are millions of opportunities for weird patterns or notable things to appear meaningful.

Are you joking?

[orbiter]

Originally Posted by rjshae

The Lunar Laser Ranging experiments have directly demonstrated that the Moon is receding from the Earth at the rate of about 3.8 centimeters per year.

^
When the moon has distanced itself to the extend that a total eclipse will no longer possible, and that will be over millions of years from now.

[roodd279]

Upon (very slightly) farther review - turns out, none of the other moons around any of the other planets in our solar system "appear" to be the same size as the sun. The corona effect we get here on Earth during totality is ours alone.

If the moon were bigger - you'd still get "darkness" during totality - but it's the "same size" thing that leads to the cool corona. Can confirm - it was excellent to see!

[K12144]

Of course, the universe is a big place, and we have no idea of the "coincidental" astronomical phenomena that go on elsewhere-- perhaps even more impressive than this one.

[Michael Way]

Originally Posted by RaveOnn

What is the likelihood (chance) that the sun and moon always both appear as the same size in our sky?

That is one of the unique aspects of a solar eclipse.

Since the moon formed billions of years ago it has been steadily getting further away from the earth due to tidal drag. In time the moon's increasing distance from the earth will such so that the moon and the son will no longer appear to be the same size and total solar eclipses will no longer occur.