what is it called when you cannot see the Moon?

Question

is it an eclipse?

Answer 1

Several conditions can occur that cause you to NOT see the Moon:

1. It has set beyond the horizon (it's orbit or the rotation of Earth has taken it beyond your line of sight).

2. It is in a New Moon phase, so you can't see the reflected sunlight.

3. It is a cloudy night or day, so your view is blocked.

4. An eclipse can partially or totally block the view of the Moon.

5. Your eyes are closed (just kidding)

Have fun!

Answer 2

LUNAR ECLIPSE
A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full during a lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes. The most recent total lunar eclipse was on 3 and 4 March 2007. The next one will occur on 28 August 2007.

Answer 3

Besides the answers you have already received (some of which are a little silly), I assume you mean when its night and you can't see the moon.
Could be one of 3 reasons:
- its "new moon", meaning the moon is between the earth and the sun so the sunlit side is facing away from us and only the dark side faces us
- its a lunar eclipse when the earth's shadow falls on the moon and its dark - but these eclipses only happen once in a while and only last a few hours at most - the full moon is visible before and after the eclipse that night
- the moon has already set for the night, or hasn't risen yet - it orbits the earth and the earth rotates so the moon isn't visible in the sky all the time, only part of each evening

Answer 4

The moon cannot be seen during a lunar eclipse (which occurs when the sun, earth and moon are in a line and the moon is blacked out by the shadow of the earth. This does not happen every month as sometimes the moon is above the earth's shadow and sometime's it is below)

The moon cannot be seen at new moon when the moon is directly between the earth and the sun because only the dark side is 'visible'. When the shadow cast by the moon falls on the earth this is a 'solar' eclipse. This happens much less often than a lunar eclipse because the moon is much smaller than the earth so casts a smaller shadow - as well as the moon passing above/ below the plane of the earth and sun.

The moon cannot be seen when it is at the other side of the earth from where you are - which happens about half of the time.

The moon CAN be seen during the day. The reasons why it is not so apparant are:

1) The sun is much brighter
2) The moon is angularly close to the sun so usually only a relatively small part (crescent) is seen.
3) During the day most people are working/ playing and not spending their time looking up at the sky.

Answer 5

It is not called anything in particular. The Moon is below the horizon roughly 12 hours every day, and can't be seen during those 12 hours, but that has nothing to do with whether it's daylight or not. The Moon is often visible in daylight.

In addition to being below the horizon 12 hours a day, the Moon can pass through the Earth's shadow, which is called a lunar eclipse. But this happens at most a couple of times a year, while the Moon is below the horizon half of EVERY day.

Answer 6

Do you mean a lunar eclipse? That's when the Earth is exactly aligned with the sun and the moon, with the Earth being in the middle and casting a shadow onto the moon.

Answer 7

It isnt an eclipse.It is called a new moon.An eclipse of the moon is called lunar eclipse.It occurs when the moon passes through some portion of the earth's shadow.This is possible only when the sun,earth and moon are aligned in a straight line.

Answer 8

An eclipse is when the moon is covered by Earth's shadow. But during the normal rotation of the earth and moon we have the 'new moon', which also makes it so we can't see it.

Check out the links for more information :)

Answer 9

I think its called daytime. Or a lunar eclipse. The moon is still there but dark and looking very red.

Answer 10

You may be referring to a "New Moon". The moon is visible during a partial eclipse.