Is the moon always visible?
The sun is always directly shining on the moon except during a total lunar eclipse. During such an eclipse the earth blocks the sun from shining directly on the moon, although some red light bends around the earth to give the eclipsed moon its characteristic color. The only time that the moon is not visible from earth is when the moon is new. This is when the moon is between the earth and sun. It is the far side of the moon that is then fully lit by the sun, and of course not observable from earth’s surface. During a solar eclipse the moon obscures part or all of the sun for those who can observe the eclipse; during these eclipses we are seeing the night time face of the moon, but we cannot make out any surface details. At all other times, some part of the moon’s sunlit surface is visible from earth.
