What happens between the new moon and the full moon phases?
At New Moon, the moon is as close as it can be to being between the earth and the sun; when this creates a straight line, we observe a solar eclipse. There is no sunlight reflecting directly off the moon’s surface to earth, but we may sometimes see some earthlight reflecting back from the moon’s surface. The moon continues from east to west in its orbit around the earth, until it is as close as it can be to having the earth between it and the sun; when this creates a straight line, we observe a lunar eclipse. This is the Full Moon.
