why it is not possible to see moon on a non moon night?

Question

we call non moon day as " Amavasya" in hindi...

Answer 1

Don't listen to Jimmy - a New Moon is not the same as a Lunar Eclipse. A lunar eclipse can only happen at the time of Full Moon.

Answer 2

In English it is called a new moon. You can't see it because it is nearly in front of the Sun and lost in the glare. On rare occasions it is directly in front of the Sun which causes a solar eclipse. Not only that, but it is the dark side of the Moon that you are seeing, the sun is lighting up the far side while the side facing Earth is in shadow. Watch the Moon every clear night for a whole month and it will become clear what is going on. It starts out as a thin crescent that is low in the west at sunset. After a week it changes to a half Moon and is seen high in the south at sunset. After 2 weeks it is a full Moon that is just rising at sunset. After 3 weeks it is again a half moon but it doesn't rise until midnight, although you can see it high in the south at sunrise and see it in daylight most of the morning. After another week, it is a thin crescent low in the east just before sunrise. If you realize that the Moon is a ball in space and the Sun is illuminating only one side of it, you will be able to recognize the relationship to the shape of the Moon and its position in the sky relative to the Sun. The bright side always faces the Sun. At new Moon, the bright side is the other side, the side that does not face Earth at all.

Answer 3

Please ignore Jimmy's answer above. He does not know what he is talking about.

The moon's phase changes have nothing whatsoever to do with shadows. Shadows are involved only in eclipses.

The phases of the moon are purely to do with which side of the moon the sun is shining on from our perspective.

At new moon, we can't see the moon because the sun is shining on the reverse side of it. Even a day old moon is rendered invisible by the glare of the sun, as they are both still in the same part of the sky.

I am just amazed how many people think the phases are to do with shadows (shakes head in disbelief).

Answer 4

And of course there is no "dark" side of the moon. In the course of a lunar cycle, the entire moon gets lighted, just as the entire earth gets lighted in the course of a day (except for the polar regions).

There is a "far" side of the moon, the side we can never see from earth.

Campbelp's use of the term "dark side" refers only to the fact that the side facing the earth at that moment is not lighted.

Answer 5

No you can't see it because the shadow of the earth is covering the moon.
If it were the glare of the sun that would be a solar eclipise. A New moon is also know as a lunar eclipise.

think about three bodies. sun, moon, earth. to keep things simple imagine the sun and earth don't move and the moon orbits the earth. when ever the moon comes between the sun and earth it blocks out the sun's light and provides the corona of the sun for us to see, this is called a solar eclipise.
When ever the moon orbits behind the earth, the earth blocks the light to the moon making the moon appear black from earth, this is called a lunar eclipise or a new moon. If you were on the moon looking at the earth during a lunar eclipise it would appear something like a sloar eclipise from earth.

Bottom line you can still see the moon during Amavasya it is just very hard to spot if you don't know where to look.

Answer 6

Because the moon is at a certain angle where the side we see is not being reached by sunlight.

Answer 7

I agree with Kris. Who wrote that song about the dark side of the moon?

Answer 8

More details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_moon