Here's why:

* The New Moon occurs when the Moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun. This means the sunlit side of the Moon is facing away from Earth, making it completely invisible to us.

* Even though the Moon is there, we don't see it. This is why it's sometimes called the "dark moon."

The next phase after a New Moon is the Waxing Crescent, and that's when we start to see a sliver of the Moon again.