Lunar nodes
Also called North node, South node
The two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic, always exactly opposite.
The Moon's orbit is tilted about 5° from the ecliptic, so it crosses twice a month; those crossings are the North and South nodes. Eclipses only happen near them, so wherever the nodes are is where the eclipses fall.
The nodes drift backward through the zodiac, completing a circuit in about 18.6 years — roughly a year and a half per pair of signs. That's why eclipses work one axis for a year or two before the whole set moves on, as they're doing now from Aquarius–Leo toward Cancer–Capricorn.
Related
- Solar eclipseA new moon that happens near a lunar node, so the Moon covers the Sun.
- Lunar eclipseA full moon near a lunar node, when Earth's shadow falls on the Moon.
- Ecliptic longitudeThe angle along the ecliptic measured from the vernal point, 0 to 360° — the coordinate behind every position in a chart.