Special cases of new and full moons which block the light of the Sun – new moon – or Moon – full moon.
The plane of the Moon’s orbit is included to the plane of the ecliptic by 5°. The points where these two intersect are the nodes of the Moon. One north, where the Moon moves to be above the ecliptic and one south where it moves below. When lunations occur near the nodes the Sun and the Moon they are almost in the same plane and the Moon passes in front of the Sun, solar eclipse, at new moon and the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, lunar eclipse, at full moon.
There are additional articles and presentation materials on eclipses on the site. Use the search facility to investigate.
