Phases of Moon

If you observe the moon every night, you will notice that it changes its shape and looks different every night. How does the moon change its shape every night? Well, the truth is, the moon is a giant ball of rocks and it does not change its shape! What changes is the part of the moon that is illuminated by the Sun.

The moon rotates around its axis while orbiting around Earth. As a result, different part of the moon gets illuminated by the Sun, at different points in its orbit.

Full Moon: Full moon occurs when the side of the moon, facing Earth is fully illuminated. From this point onward, the illuminated part of the moon goes on decreasing till new moon.

New moon: when the dark side of the moon is facing us, we cannot see the moon at all and that is called the new moon. From this point onward, the illuminated part of the moon goes on increasing till full moon.

The phases from new moon to full moon are called ‘Waxing Phases’. During these phases the illuminated part of the moon goes on increasing. The phases of the moon from full moon to new moon are called waning phases. During these, the illuminated part of the moon goes on increasing.

Crescent: When a small banana shaped part of the moon is visible during a waxing phase, it is called ‘Waxing Crescent’. When a small banana shaped part of the moon is visible during a waning phase, it is called ‘Waning Crescent’.

Quarter: When the moon is half illuminated during a waxing phase, it is known as the ‘First Quarter’ and when it is half illuminated during waning phases it is called ‘Third Quarter’.

Gibbous: When more than half of the moon is illuminated during a waxing phase, it is called ‘Waxing Gibbous’. When more than half of the moon is illuminated during waning phase, it is called ‘Waning Gibbous’

Activities

Moon Phases Demonstration:

Videos

See the moon phases:

Learn more about the phases of the moon:

Conversation Pointers

1. Does the moon look the same every night? (Answer: No, the illuminated part of the moon changes every night)
2. What are the different shapes of the moon that you see?(Answer: crescent, gibbous, full moon, no moon)