3. Our Moon orbits around our planet, and this Earth-Moon system orbits
around the Sun.
Even though we only see light on part of the Moon, from the
perspective of the Sun, half of it is always illuminated.
Stuck here on Earth, we see the Moon in various phases of illumination
as it completes a 27.3 day orbit around the Earth.
As The Moon travels around us we see it pass through its phases. It goes
from New Moon, to Full Moon and back to new Moon again.
Crescent Moons are when it’s less than half illuminated, and gibbous
when it’s more than half.
“Waxing” means that the Moon becomes more illuminated night-by-
night, and the term “waning” means that it’s getting less illuminated
each night.
4. New Moon – When the illuminated side
of the Moon is away from the Earth. The
Moon and the Sun are lined up on the
same side of the Earth, so we can only see
the shadowed side. This is also the time
that you can experience solar eclipses,
when the Moon passes directly in front of
the Sun and casts a shadow onto the
surface of the Earth. During a new moon,
we can also see the reflected light from
the Earth, since no sunlight is falling on
the Moon – this is known as earthshine.
5. Crescent– The crescent
moon is the first sliver of the
Moon that we can see. From
the northern hemisphere, the
crescent moon has the
illuminated edge of the Moon
on the right. This situation is
reversed for the southern
hemisphere.
6. First Quarter – Although it’s
called a quarter moon, we
actually see this phase when
the Moon is half illuminated.
This means that the Sun and
the Moon make a 90-degree
angle compared to the Earth.
7. Waxing Gibbous –
This phase of the
Moon occurs when
the Moon is more
illuminated that half,
but it’s not yet a full
Moon.
8. Full Moon – This is the phase
when the Moon is brightest in
the sky. From our perspective
here on Earth, the Moon is fully
illuminated by the light of the
Sun. This is also the time of the
lunar month when you can see
lunar eclipses – these occur
when the Moon passes through
the shadow of the Earth.
9. Waning Gibbous – In
this lunar phase, the
Moon is less than fully
illuminated, but more
than half.
10. Last Quarter – At this point
of the lunar cycle, the Moon
has reached half illumination.
Now it’s the left-hand side of
the Moon that’s illuminated,
and the right-hand side in
darkness (from a northern
hemisphere perspective).
11. Crescent – This is
the final sliver of
illuminated moon we
can see before the
Moon goes into
darkness again.
