The Phases of

the Moon
 01
What are the
phases of the
moon?
What are the phases of the
moon?
If you have looked into the night sky, you may have
noticed the Moon appears to change shape each night.
Some nights, the Moon might look like a narrow
crescent. Other nights, the Moon might look like a bright
circle. And on other nights, you might not be able to see
the Moon at all. The different shapes of the Moon that we
see at different times of the month are called the Moon’s
phases.
02 Changing Faces
 What are Changing Faces ?
The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite (a celestial
body that orbits a planet). It takes the Moon 27.3 days to
make a complete orbit around the Earth, but because the
Earth is moving around the sun at the same time, it takes the
moon 29.5 days to go through its eight different ‘phases’ –
a lunar month. When the Moon appears to be getting
bigger, it’s ‘waxing’ and when it looks like it’s getting
smaller, it’s ‘waning’. Once the face of the Moon is fully
turned towards the Sun, it’s a Full Moon, and we see it all.
But, as the Moon moves around the Earth, the face pointing
towards us gradually becomes hidden from the Sun until we
can hardly see it at all – this is a New Moon. Cosmic!
 New moon
This is when you can’t see the Moon easily at
all, because the part that is illuminated by the
Sun is on the side of the Moon pointing away
from Earth. This phase happens when the Moon
is between the Sun and Earth. Because the
Moon’s orbit around the Earth is tilted by about
five degrees, it’s usually either above or below
the Sun. But sometimes it lines up directly with
the Sun, and this creates a solar eclipse. On
average, a solar eclipse happens between two
and five times each year.
Waxing crescent
As it moves in its orbit, a small sliver of the
Moon becomes visible. It takes a crescent shape
because of the Moon’s roundness; we only see
the edge of the part that’s illuminated by the
Sun, and that edge is on a round object so it
appears curved.
First quarter
This is when half of the Moon’s illuminated
surface is visible from Earth. This is the
equivalent of saying we are seeing one-quarter of
the total Moon’s surface illuminated, hence the
rather confusing name..
Waxing gibbous
Also known as the crescent gibbous. When
more than half of the Moon’s surface visible
from Earth is illuminated, we call it a Gibbous
Moon.
Full moon
It happens when the face of the moon pointing
towards the earth is fully illuminated by the sun.
In this phase the moon can be seen all night
from our planet.
Waning gibbous
After the full Moon, the illuminated portion of the Moon
visible from Earth begins to wane, or decrease in size.
During the waning gibbous phase, the Moon’s surface
visible from Earth is still mostly illuminated.
Third quarter
Half of the moon is illuminated on the left side
in the northern hemisphere and vice versa in the
southern hemisphere. It is visible especially
during the early morning and part of the
morning.
Waning crescent
It is the last phase before a new moon cycle begins again.
It can be seen concave with a minimal part of its left side
illuminated.
 Thank
You!
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