Waxing Crescent & Waxing Gibbous – at sunset

Waxing Crescent / Waxing Gibbous

The phases of the Moon
From new Moon (1 day) thru Full Moon (14 day).

• Waxing Crescent (1 day – 7 day)
  
  After the new moon, the sunlit portion is increasing, but less than half, so it is waxing crescent.
• Waxing Gibbous (7 day – 14 day)
  After the first quarter, the sunlit portion is still increasing, but now it is more than half, so it is waxing gibbous.

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Waning Gibbous / Waning Crescent

The phases of the Moon
From Full Moon (14 day) thru Old Moon (28 day).

• Waning Gibbous (14 day – 21 day)
  After the full moon (maximum illumination), the light continually decreases. So the waning gibbous phase occurs next.
• Waning Crescent (21 day – 28 day)
  Following the third quarter is the waning crescent, which wanes until the light is completely gone – a new moon.

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How to remember the phases of the Moon

• New Moon
  –   during a new moon, the moon is completely dark.
  –   the moon is beginning its cycle, like becoming “new.”
  –   these moons are the hardest to see.
  –   you can barely make out the outline of it in the picture on the left.
• Waxing Crescent
  –   when the moon is waxing, the sunlit part we can see is growing.
  –   during a waxing crescent, we can see only a small section on the right that is shaped like a crescent.
  –   you can remember which is waxing and which is waning because waxing rhymes with relaxing.
  –   the first letter ofrelaxing is R, which starts the word right, the lit up side.
• First Quarter
  –   when the moon is at its first quarter, the right half is lit up.
  –   this phase is between the waxing crescent and waxing gibbous.
  –   it is called the first quarter because it is a quarter of the way through the moon phase cycle.
• Waxing Gibbous
  –   during a waxing gibbous, there is only a small part on the left that we can’t see.
  –    the relaxing trick will work here too to help remember which is waxing and which is waning.
• Full Moon
  –   during a full moon, the bright part is fully lit.
  –   the full moon is the halfway mark for the moon’s cycle.
• Waning Gibbous
  –   waning gibbous is the opposite of a waxing gibbous.
  –   only a small piece on the right we can’t see.
• Last Quarter
  –   during the last quarter, the left half is lit up. Sometimes this is also called the third quarter.
  –   the last quarter moon phase is between the waning crescent and the waning gibbous.
• Waning Crescent
  –   during a waning crescent, we can only see a small piece on the left that is lit up.
  –   after this phase is complete, the moon’s cycle will start over again with the new moon.
• Old Moon
  –   once is the cycle is complete, it starts over again – the phases of the Moon repeat about every once 27 days.
  –   unlikely that there are twice full moons in one month.  When it occurs twice full moons in one month, it is called a Blue Moon.

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Back to The Moon page.