Second New Moon visible in month of July 2019

from www.almanac.com/

“Black Moon” is not an astronomical term. In fact, if you ask a sample of astronomers, both professional and amateur, very few will have even heard of it. It’s not even a particularly widely known folklore thing. 

As for its definition, some people say it’s a “Black Moon” if:

• There is a new Moon twice in the same month. It’s similar to the Blue Moon, which has become a common term for the second full Moon in a month. This is the definition of Black Moon that’s used most often.
• There are NO new Moons in a month. This could only happen in February, and thus is kind of rare, meaning once every 5 to 10 years.
• The phrase might also simply refer to every new Moon, since we’re then seeing the Moon’s dark or black side.
• The phrase is also sometimes applied to mean the third new Moon when there are four in a season, which is actually one of the definitions of a “blue Moon” when the same thing happens to a full Moon.

You can’t see a new Moon. But the gravitational influence of the new Moon and Sun combine to create the stronger tides that we get for a few days around every full Moon and new Moon.

When is the Next Black Moon?

If we go by the standard “two new Moons in one month” definition, Black Moons are slightly rare, occurring about every 32 months (two to three years).

In North America, the next Black Moon will occur on July 31, 2019, at 11:12 P.M. ET (August 1, 2019, at 3:12 UTC). This new Moon is the second of two July 2019 new Moons. (Or, in some time zones, it’s the first of two August 2019 new Moons.

Yes, it’s all about scheduling, folks!

What Will You See During a Black Moon?

Uh, not much. Like all new moons, it’ll cross the sky with the Sun during the day.  Humans can’t see the new Moon in the Sun’s glare.

During the new Moon phase, the Moon is not illuminated by the Sun and seems to disappear from the night sky. A new Moon is practically invisible to the naked eye, so there’s nothing to see during a so-called Black Moon.

Remember, there are four quarters of the Moon—the Moon phases. There’s usually a new moon and a full Moon about once a month, because the Moon takes about a month to orbit Earth.

• You all know the “full Moon,” when the entire disk of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun (because they are on opposite sides of the sky).
• In contrast, the “new Moon” has its dark side facing us. It’s not reflecting any of the Sun’s light because the Moon is lined up between the Earth and Sun.