Going Through The Various Monthly Moon Phases
The monthly moon phases or lunar phases of the moon
are caused by reflected sunlight becoming visible
as the moon orbits Earth and Earth orbits the Sun.
The Moon generates no light of its own, it simply reflects
sunlight to us here on Earth. This is how we see the Moon.
Don't confuse this with an eclipse. An eclipse occurs when
the Moon passes through the shadow of Earth. This is a
lunar eclispe and can occur only during a full moon.
A solar eclispe happens during the new moon when the
Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth.
Because the Moon's orbit around Earth is not on
the same direct line as Earth's orbit about the Sun,
the Moon is slightly above or below usually,
major eclipses are rare. Although there are minor
eclipses every year.
It takes about 27.3 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth.
That is from one point in the sky to return to that same
point in the sky.
Because the Earth is also orbiting the Sun it takes about
29.5 days for the Moon to complete a phase cycle from one
phase to the same phase again(from new moon to new moon,
or full moon to full moon, for example).
The 8 Phases Of The Moon
The eight monthly moon phases are:
New Moon-A new moon occurs when the Moon moves
to the same side of the Earth and is close to the Sun.
Rising and setting close to the Sun the Moon is not
visible at night.
This is a great time for the backyard stargazer, with
no moonlight to wash out the nighttime sky.
Waxing Cresent-The waxing cresent appears a
few days after the new moon as the Moon moves away
from the Sun and becomes visible again.
First Quarter-This phase shows half of the Moon.
First quarter occurs about a week after the new moon
Waxing Gibbous-The waxing gibbous is heading
toward the full moon as almost all of the visible
portion of the Moon is lit.
Full Moon-The big, bright full moon happens
as the Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of Earth.
Full illumination of the Moon's surface happens
and last all night.
Waning Gibbous-The waning gibbous shows
almost all of the Moon like the waxing gibbous
as the Moon moves away from full.
Last Quarter-The last quarter shows the
opposite half of the Moon from the first quarter.
This occurs about 3 weeks after the new moon.
Waning Cresent-The waning cresent shows the
sliver of moon opposite the waxing cresent as the new
The waxing moon means that the light is growing. The
Moon is heading towards the full phase.
The waning moon is the opposite. The light is shrinking
as the Moon heads from full towards the new phase.
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