What type of eclipse occurs when the moon is in its gibbous moon face?

Answer 1

The moon's gibbous phases occur when the moon is farther from the sun than the earth. That is, the moon is on the back side of the earth relative to the sun. The earth observer is looking at the moon when most of the side of the moon facing the earth is well lit, a gibbous phase. And to do that, the observer must have the sun behind him. In these situations, the moon's orbit carries it around to the dark side of the earth, and this sets up the possibility of the earth crossing between the moon and the sun. When the earth actually does that, either all or in part, it casts a shadow on the moon. That's a lunar eclipse. The earth is actually blocking sunlight from reaching the moon. The moon is eclipsed, hidden from the sun, cast in shadow. The shadow of the earth. See the particulars here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse