Frank W. Nelte

October 2000

Solar Eclipses Are Commonly Exactly 6 New Moons Apart

In a recent article I proposed that ORIGINALLY, back in Genesis chapter 1, God had set the movements of the earth around the sun and of the moon around the earth in such a way that EVERY NEW MOON WAS A SOLAR ECLIPSE (which only lasts for a few minutes). This would have been "God's calendar in the sky" for mankind to accurately keep track of the passage of the months and the years.

This suggestion seems strange to many people, who don't realize just HOW COMMON solar eclipses actually are even today! And in most cases they are FULL solar eclipses, though only visible on a small part of this earth.

When we look into this, we find that eclipses today almost always go in pairs, which are exactly 6 new moons apart. In that way such eclipses could herald the start of the 1st and the 7th months, or the start of the 2nd and the 8th months, or the start of the 3rd and the 9th months, or the start of the 4th and the 10th months, or the start of the 5th and the 11th months, or the start of the 6th and the 12th months. For religious purposes only the start of the 1st and the 7th months is of any consequence.

The following list is a record of the solar eclipses from 1900 to 1910. This is followed by a list of solar eclipses that have occurred or that are still scheduled to occur from 1990 to 2005.

ALL ECLIPSES IN THIS LIST ARE "TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES" EXCEPT WHERE STATED OTHERWISE IN PARENTHESIS.

FROM 1900 - 1910

1) May 28, 1900 and November 22, 1900

2) May 18, 1901 and November 11, 1901

3) May 7, 1902 and October 31, 1902

4) March 29, 1903 and September 21, 1903

5) March 17, 1904 and September 9, 1904

6) March 6, 1905 and August 30, 1905

7) January 24, 1906 (partial) and July 21, 1906 (partial)

February 23, 1906 (partial) and August 20, 1906 (partial)

8) January 14, 1907 and July 10, 1907

9) January 3, 1908 and June 28, 1908 and December 23, 1908

10) June 17, 1909 and December 12, 1909 (partial) and June 7, 1910 (partial)

11) May 9, 1910 and November 2, 1910 (partial)

It should be very easy to see HOW COMMONLY such total solar eclipses were exactly 6 new moons apart about 100 years ago. The same is true for the present time. Here is a list of the solar eclipses from 1990 onwards. Again they are all TOTAL solar eclipses unless otherwise indicated.

FROM 1990 - 2005

1) January 26, 1990 and July 22, 1990

2) January 15, 1991 and July 11, 1991

3) January 4, 1992 and June 30, 1992 and December 24, 1992 (partial)

4) December 24, 1992 (partial) and June 20, 1993 (partial)

May 21, 1993 (partial) and November 13, 1993 (partial)

5) May 10, 1994 and November 3, 1994

6) April 29, 1995 and October 24, 1995

7) April 17, 1996 (partial) and October 12, 1996 (partial)

8) March 9, 1997 and September 1, 1997 (partial)

9) February 26, 1998 and August 22, 1998

10) February 16, 1999 and August 11, 1999

11) February 5, 2000 (partial) and July 31, 2000 (partial)

July 1, 2000 (partial) and December 25, 2000 (partial)

12) June 21, 2001 and December 14, 2001

13) June 10, 2002 and December 4, 2002

14) May 31, 2003 and November 23, 2003

15) April 19, 2004 (partial) and October 14, 2004 (partial)

16) April 8, 2005 and October 3, 2005

Each of those solar eclipses is the precise time of "the new moon conjunction". It is when a new month is supposed to start in God's way of reckoning months.

Without wanting to draw any particular conclusions from this clearly recognizable pattern, it is interesting information to have available when we think about the subject of eclipses. Solar eclipses are very much a common occurrence that can be very accurately predicted by astronomers.

Frank W. Nelte