What are the four main phases of the moon?
The first quarter and third quarter Moons are referred to as “half Moons” and both occur in between the new and full Moons. Where as the new and full Moon occurs when the planets are approximately aligned in a row, the first and third... read more
8 phases of the moon
Four additional terms help define the phases in-between. The first two refer to the illumination of the Moon. The term waxing is used when the Moon is becoming more illuminated as it goes from new to full Moon. Opposite of that is the term waning, which is used when... read more
Why does the moon have phases?
You can recreate the phases of the Moon with nothing more then a dark room, bright lamp, basketball, and... read more
Phases of the Moon
One of the easiest ways to understand the phases of the Moon is to imagine how the Moon looks in the night sky. In total, there are... read more
What is a new moon?
The new Moon phase is a period of time when the Moon is positioned between Earth and the sun. This means that they are... read more
When is the full moon?
A full Moon occurs at the halfway point in the lunar cycle, and is similar to a new Moon in that both have the sun, Moon... read more
Solar eclipse and lunar eclipse
The Moon's orbit around Earth is about 5 degrees off from the Earth-sun orbital plane. That means that everything is... read more
How does the moon rotate?
A remarkable feature about the Moon is that from Earth, we only ever see one side. This is incredible considering that both... read more
Is there a dark side of the moon?
As a final note, the term “dark side” stated earlier is a bit of misnomer. The “dark side” refers to the side of the Moon... read more
Lunar cycle and the orbital period
A lunar cycle takes 29.5 days, while a full rotation of the Moon around Earth takes 27.3 days. Common sense would... read more