Earthsky Tonight
New moon
09-14-2006 - Moon Phases
The image above is imaginary. It’s as if you flew in a spaceship to a place where you could see the night side of the moon. When the moon is new, its night face is facing us on Earth … but we can’t see the moon at this time.
We cannot see the new moon from Earth, except during the stirring moments of a solar eclipse. Then the moon passes in front of the sun, and the night portion of the moon becomes visible to us, surrounded by the sun’s fiery corona.
Once each month, the moon comes all the way around in its orbit so that it is more or less between us and the sun. If it were directly between, a solar eclipse would take place. But that doesn’t happen every month. Instead, in most months, the moon passes above or below the sun as seen from our earthly vantage point.
On the day of new moon, the moon rises when the sun rises. It sets when the sun sets. It crosses the sky with the sun during the day.
That’s why we can’t see the new moon in the sky. It is too close to the sun’s glare to be visible. Plus its lighted hemisphere is facing away from us.
Each new lunar cycle is measured beginning at each new moon. Astronomers call one lunar cycle a lunation.
As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.
Waxing Crescent
First Quarter
Waxing Gibbous
Full Moon
Waning Gibbous
Last Quarter
Waning Crescent
New Moon
this website is awesome! I had big school project on phases of the moon and it has helped me big time and made it easy this was the only website i used,
thanks
yes i totally agree Mackenzie! this website is legit!
awesome work guys
keep doing what you doo!