Let's say we want to build a model of the sun and Earth alone. Earth has a radius of about 6,371 kilometers (3,959 miles), but let's represent this with a marble 1 centimeter in diameter.

What about the Sun? In this diagram, the Earth and moon are about ... Earth and moon around the Sun would make it super-difficult to see the ... cry in a bottle”—and they’re not good.

A full moon occurs when the Earth is positioned between the moon and the sun. The moon gets is “super” prefix if it reaches its peak less than 10 hours after its orbit became closest to the Earth.

When the Moon, the Earth and the Sun are all lined up together with the Earth between the Moon and Sun, ... giving it different phases, as you can see in the diagram below. Phases of the moon.

This diagram easily breaks down what's going on with the sun, moon, and Earth during the August 21 total solar eclipse. Business Insider Subscribe Newsletters ...

New moons occur when the moon’s orbit takes it between Earth and the sun, leaving the lunar orb’s unilluminated side facing Earth. At night, this phase of the moon is impossible to see: Since ...