Phases Of Moon

Kids Learning

We can look up in the sky and see the Moon change every night. The different ways the Moon looks through a month’s time are called phases of the Moon.

When the Moon is getting bigger, from the night when there is no Moon until the night of the full Moon, is called the Moon’s waxing cycle and includes these phases:

· New Moon is when the whole Moon is dark.

· Waxing crescent is when there is a light crescent that looks kind of like a fingernail on the right side of the Moon.

· First quarter is when the right half of the Moon is lit.

· Waxing gibbous is when three quarters of the Moon is lit.

· Full Moon is when the whole Moon is lit up.

When the Moon is in the waning cycle, it goes from being all lit up as the Full Moon to totally disappearing as a New Moon. The Moon does this in these phases:

· Waning crescent is when there is a dark crescent on the right side of the Moon.
· Third quarter is when the right half of the Moon is dark.
· Waning gibbous is when three quarters of the Moon is dark.
· New Moon is when the whole Moon is dark.