Let me try this again. Ok, we have phases of the moon visible, night and day, to us except the new moon. We see a waning and waxing moon to full day and night. We only watch solar and lunar eclipses. Why don't we see at least some black dot, during the day, in the sky during a new moon?
Unless the moon is behind the sun. Well, if during a new moon, the moon is behind the sun, then how is the moon NOT orbiting the sun and not the earth?
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The sunshine on Earth during the day is usually too strong to let the relatively weak shine of the reflection off the Moon be seen on Earth during the day.
Are you aware how far away the Sun is? If the Moon could be behind the Sun, it would not orbit Earth but be a separate planet, like Venus and Mars.
As the Earth is orbiting the Sun, and the Moon is orbiting Earth, the Moon is, in effect, orbiting the Sun as well.
Well, if during a new moon, the moon is behind the sun
Right! Because that's where all the moons are stored.
You see, when the moon burns out after a month, we get a new one, hence "new moon". It's brought from behind the sun and the old burned out one is taken back there. That's why you don't see a black dot: it's in transport. We usually don't see the moon during the day due to energy conservation measures. And the moon doesn't orbit anything, it just wanders. Btw, did you know that the moon can't be seen in Australia?
For the same reason that we don't see the stars in the daylight (and for that matter, why it's difficult to see your smart phone or digital camera display in the sunshine); the sky is just too bright, so the iris of your eyes closes down and the dimmer objects can't be seen.
It's possible to see stars in daylight (and presumably the new moon) if you are down a deep well which cuts out most of the peripheral light. Granted, your window of visibility is just a tiny portion of the sky, but it can be done, and somebody Greek whose name I cannot recall did exactly that several thousand years ago, thus proving that the stars didn't go away in the daytime but were just too hard to see.
"Why don't we see this surface that isn't reflecting or emitting light?"
A question for the ages.
Unless the moon is behind the sun. Well, if during a new moon, the moon is behind the sun, then how is the moon NOT orbiting the sun and not the earth?
Yep, that's the logical conclusion.
You can see a weakly-illuminated part of the moon when only a portion of it is bright. True; that's because there is reflected light from the sunlit part of the earth. But the more the moon gets to the portion of its cycle where it's visible in daylight, the more reflected light gets there. To recap, a moon facing a partially lit earth gets some reflection, and a moon facing a fully-lit earth gets more reflected light. It isn't a "black dot" anymore.
Oh, and that moon behind the sun thingie tells me you are a complete moron. Now go find an orange (earth), a grape (moon), and a light bulb (sun) and do it for yourself. You can do it, I'm sure, although you seem to have missed that lesson in the third grade.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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