WAXING MOON

Let's start with a Waxing Crescent Moon, the kind that looks like a Man in a Moon drawing or a cute Christmas tree ornament with a smiling face and a long white beard. When the Moon is a Waxing Crescent; the dark side is to your left, more or less, and the bright Crescent is to your right. (Sometimes the Moon is tipped a little, so it may not be exactly right or left, but you will know what i mean if you go outside and look at it.)

                      The Waxing Crescent Moon
                      rises after sunrise and sets after sunset --
                      it is only seen in the night sky for a short time after the sun goes down.

Every night the Moon rises in the East a little later and the thickness of the Waxing Crescent gets fatter, until the shape of the Moon is half a circle. This is the First Quarter, also called by some people the Waxing Half Moon. It is dark on the left and bright on the right

                      The Waxing First Quarter Moon
                      rises about at noon
                      and sets about at midnight.

After that, the Moon starts to look like it is pregnant -- it is perfectly round on the right side, but bulged out past half-way on the left. This is the Waxing Gibbous Moon.

                      The Waxing Gibbous Moon
                      rises in the middle of the afternoon
                      and sets before well before sunrise.

FULL MOON

It takes about 14 days of growing bigger for the moon to grow or wax completely full -- that night you will see the Full Moon rise as a perfect circular disk.

                      The Full Moon
                      rises almost exactly at sunset
                      and sets almost exactly at the next sunrise.

WANING MOON

After its 14 days of waxing, culminating with the Full Moon, the entire process is reversed and the Moon decreases in apparent size. It slowly begins to go dark on the right side, while the left side stays the same disk-shape as it had when it was Full. This is the Waning Gibbous Moon -- it looks perfectly round on the left side, but bulged out past half-way on the right.

                      The Waning Gibbous Moon
                      rises in the early evening
                      and sets some time after sunrise.

Every night the Moon rises in the East a little later and the thickness of the Waning Gibbous gets thinner, until the shape of the Moon is half a circle. This is the Last Quarter, also called by some people the Third Quarter or Waning Half Moon. It is dark on the right and bright on the left.

                      The Waning Last Quarter Moon
                      rises about at midnight
                      and sets about at noon.

As the shape continues to shrink, night by night, the Moon becomes a Waning Crescent; the dark side is to your right, more or less, and the bright Crescent is to your left.

                      The Waning Crescent Moon
                      rises between midnight and dawn,
                      but fades out when the Sun comes up.

NEW MOON

Finally, growing smaller still, the moon has waned completely and it vanishes. This is called the Dark of the Moon or New Moon -- and on the night of the New Moon you will see no Moon at all, no matter how long you stay up and watch, because...

                      The New Moon (Dark Moon)
                      rises at sunrise
                      and sets at sunset.

WAXING MOON AGAIN

About 3 days after the true Dark of the Moon you will see a tiny sliver of a Moon like a fingernail paring appear in the sky at sunset near where the Sun has gone down. Some people call this the First Crescent. Others call it the Siva Moon, because the Hindu god Siva is shown with a thin crescent moon in his hair.

                      The First Crescent
                      rises a little bit after sunrise
                      and sets a little bit after sunset.

After that, the Moon grows (or waxes) to a nice, "Man in the Moon" type Crescent Moon. And that's where we started out, with the Waxing Crescent Moon.

HOW YOU CAN TELL WHAT PHASE THE MOON IS IN

To tell whether the Moon is waxing or waning is fairly simple. Basically, all you have to do is go outside at sundown and take a look -- if you don;t see the moon then, you will have to go outside later at night and check again, or check duting the day:

If the Moon is already up in the sky in the evening, when the Sun goes down, then the Moon is waxing. Every night it will rise a little later in the day and look a little fuller. At Full Moon it will rise almost exactly when the Sun sets.

If the Moon is not already up in the sky when night falls, but instead rises long after sunset, or if you see it faintly during the day, then the Moon is waning. Every day it will rise a little later and look a little thinner. At New Moon it will rise almost exactly when the Sun does, but you won't be able to see it at all.

MOON PHASES CALENDAR