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Q&A

How can I lengthen a total solar eclipse on an earth-like planet?

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I was lucky enough to witness the total solar eclipse crossing the US this past August, but while it was impressive, it was also fairly short - lasting just under two minutes at my location. I'd like to increase the intensity of the experience for a less technologically advanced civilization by drawing out the duration of the eclipse as much as possible.

I see that total eclipses on Earth can last up to approximately seven and a half minutes when the Earth is near aphelion, the moon is near perigee, and the eclipse happens near the Equator.

But can we draw this out even longer?

Given a planet and moon roughly like Earth and our Moon, are there modifications we can make to the orbit, size, or rotational speed of either body that could extend this out, while still maintaining a stable system?

My target is 15 minutes for a single location on the planet to witness an eclipse, ideally while able to see the sun's corona. Preference is for the eclipse to be caused by a moon rather than a large planet.

Bonus points if this long total eclipse can occur on a relatively frequent basis for a given area, where "frequent" is defined as anywhere between a month and a decade (so that a generation of people would experience multiple such events during their lifetime).

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