Solar Eclipse Basics
A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, the Moon, and Earth line up, and the Moon (which is between the Sun and Earth) temporarily blocks the Sun’s light. The kind of eclipse you see from your location depends on the Moon’s orbital path across Earth’s surface and how far away the Moon is from Earth and from the Sun.
The only Moon phase where the Sun-Moon-Earth special lineup can happen to create a solar eclipse is new Moon, and we don’t get a solar eclipse at every new Moon. This is because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is angled a little with respect to Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Due to this angled orbit; the Moon’s shadow at new Moon usually misses the Earth. When the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up just right and the Moon’s shadow falls on the Earth, then we see a solar eclipse.