Understanding the New Moon: why the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun

Let me tell you a quick story about the Moon. You’ve probably caught yourself staring up on a clear night, wondering why sometimes it looks like a pale silver coin and other times like a faint curved smear. The Moon isn’t changing color or brightness by magic; it’s our viewpoint changing as the Sun, Earth, and Moon line up in different ways. And one of the simplest, most telling alignments is the New Moon. Here’s the thing: this phase happens when the Moon sits between the Earth and the Sun.

What exactly is a New Moon?

Think of the Sun as a big flashlight and Earth as a tiny observer with a front-row seat. When the Moon is between them, the side that’s lit by the Sun is facing away from us. From Earth, we’re basically looking at the Moon’s dark side, so it’s invisible in the daytime sky for a while. No glow, no glow-in-the-dark tricks—just geometry in action. The New Moon is the moment in the lunar cycle when the Moon and Sun are closest in the sky, from our perspective, and that makes it a good entry point for thinking about how the Moon changes shape over a month.

Let’s break down the question, the options, and what the correct answer really means

If you’ve seen a short multiple-choice item about the Moon, you might spot four tempting phrases. Here’s the question you laid out, in plain terms:

During which phase does a New Moon occur in relation to Earth and the Sun?

A. When the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon

B. When the Moon is the farthest from Earth

C. When the Moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun

D. When the Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Moon

The correct answer is C: When the Moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun. That’s the geometry right there. The illuminated side of the Moon faces away from Earth, so we don’t see the Sunlit portion at all. This is why the Moon looks “invisible” during New Moon.

Why the other options don’t fit

• A says Earth is between the Sun and Moon. That’s a classic Full Moon setup, not New Moon. When Earth sits between Sun and Moon, the Sun’s light fully reaches the Moon’s Earth-facing side, and from our vantage point, the Moon shines brightly in the night sky.

• B mentions the Moon being farthest from Earth, which we call apogee. That’s about distance within its orbit, not about the phase. You can have an apogee during many phases; apogee isn’t tied to a specific phase.

• D says Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Moon. That arrangement sounds a lot like a Full Moon too, because the Sun, Moon, and Earth form roughly a straight line with Earth in the middle’s opposite position relative to the Sun. It doesn’t describe the New Moon.

So the key idea isn’t a trick question; it’s about alignment. New Moon = Moon between Earth and Sun. Full Moon = Earth between Sun and Moon. The phases are basically a cosmic storytelling of who’s between whom.

A simple mental model that makes it stick

Here’s a tiny mental trick you can keep in your back pocket. Picture a flashlight (the Sun) shining on a coin (the Moon) in your hand (the Earth). If you tilt the coin so the side you can’t see is the one catching most of the Sun’s light, you’ve got New Moon. If you rotate the setup so that Earth sits between Sun and Moon, the Moon lights up fully from your view—that’s Full Moon. The phases are about the angle of those three bodies, not about the Moon changing its own brilliance.

Connecting with real-world curiosity

This isn’t just trivia. Understanding the New Moon helps you grasp bigger patterns, like why eclipses happen. A solar eclipse, for instance, can occur when the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up in just the right way, and the Moon passes in front of the Sun from our perspective. But eclipses are rarer than the regular lunar phases, and you don’t need perfect alignment every month to see the Moon go from invisible to fully visible over roughly a month.

MoCA science topics arrive as a package deal

If you’re exploring questions like the New Moon, you’ll see a handful of other lunar concepts that fit together nicely. For example:

• The Moon’s orbit isn’t a perfect circle. It’s a bit elliptical, and its distance from Earth changes as it goes around the planet. That’s why some months the Moon looks a touch bigger or smaller in the sky.

• The Sun’s light is so bright that even when the Moon is near the Sun in the sky, you still can’t see it during the day—unless you’re at a precise moment in its crescent or new phase and the glare isn’t overpowering.

• Tides on Earth are influenced by the Moon’s gravity. At certain alignments, you get higher high tides and lower low tides, and at other times the effects are more subtle. The Moon’s position relative to Earth and Sun plays a big role in those tidal rhythms.

Studying with clarity, not clutter

If you’re mapping out how to approach questions about the Moon on the MoCA science assessment, a few habits can help without turning the study into a chore:

• Draw quick diagrams. A simple sketch with labeled Sun, Moon, and Earth can be more enlightening than long paragraphs. It helps you “see” the phase.

• Use short phrases you can recall fast. For New Moon, a tight cue like “Moon between Earth and Sun = invisible from Earth” is enough to trigger the right idea during a test.

• Keep a little glossary in your mind. Phase names (New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, Last Quarter) aren’t just labels; they’re about the Moon’s position relative to Earth and Sun.

A gentle tangent about learning, not just memorizing

Sometimes, people treat science facts like boxes to check off. A better approach is seeing them as pieces of a bigger picture. The Moon’s phases aren’t just about “which option is correct.” They’re about how celestial bodies move and how light and shadow reveal meaning. When you connect that to other topics—gravitational pull, or eclipses, or even how scientists use lights and cameras in space missions—you start feeling the subject rather than just memorizing it.

Practical tips you can actually use

• Visualize and verbalize: If a concept feels abstract, describe it out loud to a friend or even to yourself. It sounds simple, but speaking the idea aloud can highlight gaps you didn’t notice when you were just reading.

• Link to angles, not just days: The phase names map to the rough angle between Sun–Moon and Earth. If you can picture that angle, you’ll recall the relationships more reliably than if you try to memorize the phrases in isolation.

• Mix up how you learn: A quick video, a diagram, and a short written note can reinforce the concept from different angles. Variety can prevent the material from turning bland.

The big picture in one bite-sized takeaway

New Moon isn’t about newness in an everyday sense; it’s about a precise alignment: the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun, so the Sunlit face isn’t visible from Earth. When you rotate your mental 3D model to mirror that setup, you unlock not just this question but a suite of related ideas about phases, eclipses, and the Moon’s changing face across a monthly cycle.

If you’re browsing resources for the MoCA science assessment, remember: grounding your understanding in geometry—where each body sits relative to the others—turns a handful of facts into a coherent story. That story helps you think through questions more smoothly, on a test or in a real-world moment when you happen to glance up at a night sky.

Wrapping up with a friendly nudge

The Moon’s phases are a timeless reminder that our sky is a stage for simple, elegant alignments. Next time you look up, ask yourself: where are the Sun, Moon, and Earth in this moment? What part of the Moon’s face is catching daylight, and what does that mean for what I can see from here? You don’t need a telescope or a space shuttle to appreciate it—just a little habit of noticing and a willingness to connect the dots.

In short: New Moon = Moon between Earth and Sun, causing the illuminated side to face away from us, rendering the Moon nearly invisible from our planet. That simple line in the sky has a surprising amount of information tucked into it, and recognizing it can make the rest of the lunar story much easier to follow.