What phenomenon occurs when Earth travels between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's rays from reaching the moon's surface?

A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth positions itself between the sun and the moon, creating a scenario where the Earth's shadow falls on the moon. This alignment prevents sunlight from directly reaching the moon's surface, resulting in the moon appearing darker or even red during the eclipse due to Rayleigh scattering of sunlight through Earth's atmosphere.

In this case, the phenomenon can only take place during a full moon when the moon is directly opposite the sun in the sky. During a solar eclipse, on the other hand, the moon is positioned between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sunlight from reaching the Earth. The concepts of full and new moons are related to the moon's phases, but they do not involve the blocking of sunlight in the same way as a lunar eclipse.