The geometry of the Sun, Moon, and Earth very nearly repeats itself every 18 years. if you take the time of a solar eclipse and add 6585.32 days to it, you will have a good forecast for the occurence of another very similar eclipse. The most significant difference from one eclipse in a Saros cycle to the next is the location of the eclipse on the Earth.
An 18-year, 11-day repeating pattern of solar and lunar eclipses caused by a combination of the tilt of the lunar orbit with respect to the ecliptic and the precession of the plane of the moon's orbit.
A period of 18 years 11.3 days between eclipses with very similar alignment geometries (same time of year, same nodes). The saros cycle = 223 synodic months = 242 draconic months = 239 anomalistic months.
The eighteen-year cycle, containing forty-one solar eclipses and twenty-nine lunar eclipses, in which an eclipse from each current Saros Series appears.
The cycle of eclipses, discovered by the ancient Chaldeans, lasting a little over 18 years, when Lunar Eclipses seem to repeat themselves. The cycle is also applicable to Solar Eclipses. A full Saros Series lasts some 13 centuries, due to the movement of the lunar nodes.
The Saros cycle is an eclipse cycle with a period of about 18 years 11 days 8 hours (approximately 6585â…“ days) that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. One Saros after an eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon return to approximately the same relative geometry, and a nearly identical eclipse will occur.