Phases Of a The Moon

We all know our fellow friend that hangs out in the sky every night waiting until the sun comes up to go away. This is the moon! We know that we don’t always see the same moon. Sometimes we see a full moon, sometimes only half, a crescent of the mon is lit up, and sometimes we can’t see the moon at all. Why is the moon like that you wonder? This is because of the different phases of the moon!

This phase of the moon is called a new moon. Just like it’s name, it’s the moon at the start of the moon cycle, making it a “new moon.” When the moon is in this phase, it often doesn’t have any light from the sun making it hard to see in the night sky. As the moon moved to its other phases it is either waxing or waning. When the part of the moon that is lit up is getting bigger the moon is waxing. The next phase of the moon is called a waxing crescent moon. 

This phase of the moon is called a waxing crescent moon. This moon is getting bigger and growing larger so it is considered a waxing moon. This moon can be seen in the night sky but a very small section is lit up by the sun. The next phase of the moon is a first quarter. 

This phase of the moon is called a first quarter. This moon can be seen at night well but you can only see half of it. It’s called a first quarter even though you can see half because of how we see the moon. We only see half at one time so when half of a half is lit up it makes it a quarter moon. The next phase of the moon is called a waxing gibbous moon. 

The waxing gibbous moon is the next phase the moon passes through. This moon is opposite from a crescent moon because the crescent is the shaded part in this case. This moon is one of the last moons you see before the very commonly known, full moon. 

This is a very common phase of the moon. The full moon is referred to a lot with different moon myths. When in this phase of the moon, the moon is completely lit up by the sun with no dark sections. This moon indicates the middle of the phases of the moon. The next moon to come in the moon cycle is called a waning gibbous.

This moon is called a waning gibbous. When the moons bright side is getting smaller, going towards a new moon, this is called waning. This moon is almost completely lit up with a little crescent that is dark. The next moon is called the last quarter moon.

This is called the last quarter moon. It’s just like the first quarter moon but instead of the right side being lit up, the left side has the light. To not get them confused you need to remember, right side is waxing left side is waning. The next moon to come is a waning crescent. 

This movie is called a waning crescent moon. It is one of the last stages before new Moon. When is moon is in the sky, you can see a lit up sliver that is called a crescent. The next moon is back to the new moon!

This moon again! When the new moon comes back that tells you that you’re back to the start of the cycle. The moons will be waxing towards a full moon and waning towards a new moon again!

The moon is a friend of ours. Even though it’s far away, we still know lots about it and it’s still closer than the sun! Without the moon the Earth wouldn’t be the same. Learning about the moons phases hopefully gave you some more knowledge about the moon and was fun to learn!