The Moon

The revolution of the Moon around the Earth results in moon phases

(changing appearances of the moon as seen from Earth).

The Moon passes through four major shapes during a lunar cycle that repeats itself every 29.5 days. 

The phases always follow one another in the same order:

New moon

First quarter

Third quarter

Full moon

PHASES OF THE MOONPHASES OF THE MOON

The phase you see depends on the The phase you see depends on the relative positions of the moon, Earth, relative positions of the moon, Earth,

and the sun.and the sun.

Waxing & WaningGibbous & Crescent

• An easy way to remember and understand those "between" lunar phase names is by breaking out and defining 4 words: crescent, gibbous, waxing, and waning.

• You can simply combine the two words to create the phase name.

What is a crescent moon?

Less than half of the lighted side of the moon is visible.

Waxing Crescent Waning Crescent

What is a gibbous moon?

Waxing Gibbous Waning Gibbous

More than half of the lighted side of the moon is visible.

Waxing vs. Waning

Waxing essentially means "growing" or expanding in illumination.Waning means "shrinking" or decreasing in illumination.

Moon Movie

The movie is an animated GIF created by Antonio Cidadao from a sequence of still images taken during March and April 1998. Copyright Antonio Cidadao.

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/moon_phases.html

MOON QUIZ!

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/moonlight.html