How Many Phases Does The Moon Have?
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28 May 2025
In total, the Moon has 8 main phases. Each phase repeats every 29.5 days - one lunar cycle!
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New Moon: The Moon is between Earth and the Sun - it's invisible to us. No sunlight is reflected.
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Waxing Crescent: A sliver of the Moon appears. It's getting "bigger" - that's what waxing means!
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First Quarter: Half the Moon is lit up and visible. It's one-quarter of the way through its cycle.
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Waxing Gibbous: More than half the Moon is visible - and growing. It's almost full!
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Full Moon: The entire face of the Moon is lit up. Time for moonlight walks and legends!
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Waning Gibbous: Now it's shrinking - "waning" means decreasing. Still more than half is visible.
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Last Quarter: Half the Moon is visible again - but now it's fading. Three-quarters through the cycle.
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Waning Crescent: A thin crescent remains before going dark. The next New Moon is near.
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Image: Reuters
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