New moons happen when the moon is directly between Earth and the sun. They share a celestial longitude (called right ascension by astronomers), a projection of the Earth's longitude lines on the sky measured eastward from the point where the sun crosses the celestial equator. This position is also called a conjunction. If the sun and the moon line up perfectly the result is a solar eclipse; but that does not happen most of the time, as the moon's orbit is tilted 5 degrees relative to Earth's orbit. (The next solar eclipse is due on Sept. 21).
That means seeing the new moon isn't possible, due to the sun's glare. Even if the sun were blocked, the moon would be facing away from us, showing the dark side, which would just be black on a black background.
Lunar phases are determined by the moon's position, rather than one's position on Earth, so to find the time of a lunar phase one only needs to count the hours difference from Universal Coordinated Time in London to whatever time zone.
So, when the moon reaches the new phase in New York, it will do so at 8:02 p.m. on May 26, at 11:02 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (0302 UTC May 27), according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. It will do so at 8:02 p.m. (May 26) in Los Angeles, 4:02 a.m. May 27 in Paris, and 12:02 p.m. May 27 in Tokyo.
Source: www.space.com
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