Are there nights without moon

The moon's phases, position in the sky and weather conditions all contribute to whether or not you can see the familiar satellite.

It is usually easy to understand why you can't see the moon on a given night. Aside from cloud cover and sunlight, the moon is visible every day in each hour cycle of the earth's rotation, even if you're at the north or south pole. The moon travels through eight phases over the course of a lunar cycle. Waxing crescent occurs as the moon approaches first quarter. First quarter occurs on the way to becoming full, when half of the moon is visible. Waxing gibbous occurs on the way to a full moon, when more than half of the moon is visible.

Full moon occurs when the entire disk of the moon is illuminated. Waning gibbous occurs after full moon. Last quarter occurs after waning gibbous, when half of the moon is visible. Waning crescent is the crescent phase after last quarter. Celestial longitude is a projection of the Earth's longitude lines on the celestial sphere; when two bodes share the same longitude that is called a conjunction.

If one draws a line from Polaris , the North Star due south toward the sun, that line also hits the moon. Usually we see the illuminated side of the moon, but one can't see a new moon unless it passes directly in front of the sun, creating a solar eclipse.

This new moon won't be creating any eclipses — that will have to wait for Dec. The moon will reach perigee a day after the new moon, shortly after 6 p. The moon is an average distance of , miles , kilometers from the Earth, but the orbit of the moon isn't a perfect circle.

On Nov. On the night of the November new moon, the sun sets in New York City at p. The planet is in the constellation Sagittarius, the archer , and won't set until p. In the Southern Hemisphere, the situation is a bit different; the sun sets at p. Venus will be 42 degrees above the western horizon and sets in Melbourne at p.

The moon and Venus will meet on Nov. You can see the phases drawn in the image below. Just like the Earth, half of the Moon is lit by the Sun while the other half is in darkness. The phases we see result from the angle the Moon makes with the Sun as viewed from Earth. The diagram below on the right is one you typically see in books. Don't let it confuse you.

The images of the Moon show what you see the Moon look like from Earth when it is at given points in its orbit. It does not show which side of the Moon is lit by the Sun. The side lit by the Sun is always the side that is pointed toward the Sun, as seen in the diagram below on the left. We only see the Moon because sunlight reflects back to us from its surface. During the course of a month, the Moon circles once around the Earth.

If we could magically look down on our solar system, we would see that the half of the Moon facing the Sun is always lit. But the lit side does not always face the Earth! As the Moon circles the Earth, the amount of the lit side we see changes. Sky-Watcher Skyhawk Telescope.

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