Phases Of The Moon

A Look At The Sky

Phases of the Moon. It takes the Moon 29 1/2 days to go from Full to Dark.

Phases Of The Moon

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Phases of the Moon - Phase 1 - New Moon

The side of the moon that is facing the Earth is not illuminated by the Sun. The moon is not visible at this time.

The new Moon is the moment when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction, meaning that the Sun and Earth are on opposite sides of the Moon.

Phase 2 - Waxing Crescent

Less than one half of the Moon is illuminated by direct sunlight. . The part that is illuminated is slowly getting bigger. A few days after the new Moon phase, the Moon will be visible again in a phase that lasts until the first quarter. This is called the waxing crescent Moon. Although only a small part of the Moon may be illuminated by the Sun.

There is a reflection from the Earth to the Moon called earth shine. The rest of the Moon may be faintly visible because of this. The waxing crescent moon is most visible after sunset.

Phases of the Moon - 1st Quarter

In phase three - the first quarter - one half of the Moon is illumined up by the Sun.

This illuminated portion is slowly getting larger. During the first quarter, half of the Moon is illuminated, as seen from the earth.

The Moon rises near the middle of the day and sets near the middle of the night.

Phase 4 - Waxing Gibbous

At this time half of the Moon is lit up. The Sunlit portion lit is slowly getting larger. Waxing means to slowly increase. The period in which the visible surface of the moon increases.

The waxing gibbous moon occurs between the first quarter and the full Moon. The Sun illuminates more than half of the Moon's surface during this period.

Phases of the Moon - Phase 5 - Full Moon

The side of the Moon that is illumined by the Sun is facing the Earth. The entire Moon is lit up at this point. The full Moon appears when the Sun and the Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth.

This is as seen from Earth and all of the Moon's surface will be visible. The full Moon is generally visible from sunset to sunrise.

Phase 6 - Waxing Gibbous

The moon is not totally illuminated by sunlight. The part of the Moon this is illumined is slowly getting smaller.

The meaning of waning is to slowly get smaller.. Waning (of the moon) relates to the period during which the visible surface of the Moon decreases.

After the full Moon comes the waning Moon.

The period between full Moon and third quarter is called gibbous Moon. The portion of the Moon illuminated goes down from full to half during this period.

Phase 7 - Last Quarter

Half of the Moon is illumined by the Sun. The part that we can see illuminated is slowly getting smaller.

The third quarter Moon occurs when the other half of the Moon is illuminated compared the first quarter.

On the actual day of third quarter, the Moon rises somewhere in the middle of the night and sets in the middle of the day.

Phases of the Moon - Phase 8 - Waning Crescent

A small portion of the Moon is illuminated at this point. Each moment it is getting smaller and smaller.

The waning crescent Moon is the period between the third quarter Moon and the next new Moon.

The Moon is most visible before sunset. The Sun illuminates less than half the Moon during this period. It may be possible to see earth shine on the dark side of the Moon when only a small portion of the Moon is visible.