As you know, full moons are the only time lunar eclipses occur, but new moons are the only time solar eclipses occur. A solar eclipse always occurs two weeks after or two weeks before a total lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses can last for a maximum of 3 hours and 40 minutes, with the period of totality lasting for as long as I hour and 40 minutes. So, a 3 hour lunar eclipse is well within "normal" possibilities. However, solar eclipses can last for a maximum of 7 minutes and 40 seconds if they are total (at the equator), 12 minutes and 24 seconds at most if they are annular. Lunar eclipses can never happen more than three times a year. Solar eclipses happen at least twice a year but never more than five times a year. Lunar eclipses are visible over an entire hemisphere. Solar eclipses are visible in a narrow path that is a maximum of 167 miles wide. The greatest number of solar and lunar eclipses that can happen in a year is seven. At any specific geographic location on the globe, a total solar eclipse can occur only once every 360 years, on average. Solar eclipses and lunar eclipses go together in pairs. A solar eclipse is always followed or preceded by a lunar eclipse, within an interval of 14 days. Eclipses may also occur in threes, alternating lunar, solar, lunar. The characteristics of one eclipse are repeated every 18 years, I 1 days, and 8 hours, with some minor variations. This long-term rhythm is called the Saros cycle. At any given time, there may be several dozen different series of this cycle in effect.