Tower of Shadows

The moon orbits the earth and so at "new moon", when its dark side is towards us, it lies between earth and sun – but seldom exactly. The moon is a relatively small object and its orbit tilts at a 5° angle to earth's, so most months its shadow isn't cast onto the earth's surface, it misses to the north or south. All that usually happens is that the dark moon can't be seen in the sun's glare, until a day or two goes by, it moves further from the direct line and more of its earth-facing surface returns into sunlight, and we see the first slender crescent of the waxing moon. But once or twice a year, it does line up, and casts a shadow onto earth. Seen from earth, it's as if a dark bite has been taken out of the sun – a partial eclipse. Indeed the ancient Chinese believed that a dragon was trying to eat the sun, and so they beat gongs and drums to try to scare off the dragon.