What is the moon phase today?
The moon’s phases are one of the most familiar sights in the night sky. Every month, we see our lone satellite wax and wane through a series of shapes, taking it from an unmissable full moon down to a tiny sliver of a crescent, briefly disappearing from view entirely and then returning to full once more.
This page was updated on Sept. 22, 2023
What is the moon phase today?
Tonight, Sept. 22, 2023, the moon is at the waxing crescent phase of its lunar cycle, and is 48% illuminated. The moon is 7 days old — meaning it is that many days into its roughly 30-day cycle. The last full moon, the Blue Supermoon, rose Aug. 30. September’s full moon, called the Harvest Moon, rises on Sept. 29
The cycle at a glance:
-The last Full Moon, also called the Blue Supermoon, rose on August 30, 2023.
-On Sept. 6, the moon entered its Third Quarter phase where half the moon’s Earth-facing side appears illuminated as the moon wanes toward a New Moon.
-On Sept. 14, a New Moon rose, with the moon’s surface appearing completely dark. This is the start of the next lunar cycle.
-On Sept. 22, the moon entered its First Quarter phase where half of the moon’s Earth-facing side appears illuminated as the moon waxes toward full illumination.
-On Sept. 29 the next Full Moon rises, with the moon appearing bright and large in the sky. The September Full Moon is also called the Harvest Moon.
Moon phase calendarSwipe to scroll horizontallyPhases of the moon 2023DatePhase of the moonTime (ET)Jan. 6Full Moon6:09 p.m.Jan. 14Third Quarter9:13 p.m.Jan. 21New Moon3:55 p.m.Jan. 28First Quarter10:20 a.m.Feb. 5Full Moon1:30 p.m.Feb. 13Third Quarter11:03 a.m.Feb. 20New Moon2:09 a.m.Feb. 27First Quarter3:06 a.m.Mar. 7Full Moon7:42 a.m.Mar. 14Third Quarter10:10 p.m.Mar. 21New Moon1:26 p.mMar. 28First Quarter10:33 p.m.Apr. 6Full Moon12:37 a.m.Apr. 13Third Quarter5:12 a.m.Apr. 20New Moon12:15 a.m.Apr. 27First Quarter5:19 p.m.May 5Full Moon1:34 p.m.May 12Third Quarter10:28 a.m.May 19New Moon11:52 a.m.May 27First Quarter11:22 a.m.June 3Full Moon11:41 p.m.June 10Third Quarter3:31 p.m.June 18New Moon12:37 a.m.June 26First Quarter3:39 a.m.Jul. 3Full Moon7:38 a.m.Jul. 9Third Quarter9:49 p.m.Jul. 17New Moon2:33 p.m.Jul. 25First Quarter6:08 p.m.Aug. 1Full Moon2:33 p.m.Aug. 8Third Quarter6:29 a.m.Aug. 16New Moon5:38 a.m.Aug. 24First Quarter5:58 a.m.Aug. 30Full Moon (Blue Moon)9:37 p.m.Sept. 6Third Quarter6:22 p.m.Sept. 14New Moon9:40 p.m.Sept. 22First Quarter3:32 p.m.Sept. 29Full Moon5:58 a.m.
As the phases are the moon are caused by the moon’s orbit around Earth, they are entirely predictable. In fact, it is possible to work out the dates we’d see these phases for the next 50 million years. Here’s what it will look like tonight:
What are the moon’s phases?
(Image credit: NASA/ Bill Dunford)
We say the moon is “new” when there’s no light from the moon reaching Earth. Over time, we begin to see more of it and we say the moon is waxing.
First, we see a waxing crescent, then a so-called “first quarter moon.” It’s a slightly confusing name because it actually appears as a half-illuminated moon in the night sky. But if you think about it, the moon can be split into four quarters: two on the side of the moon facing us and then two on the side that faces away from the Earth. During a first quarter moon, skywatchers see a quarter of the entire Moon illuminated.
Next comes a waxing gibbous moon — part way between a first quarter and a full moon. (It comes from an old Middle English word for “hump” because that’s the shape it resembles in the night sky.) After the moon is full we say that the moon begins to wane. So a waning gibbous comes first, followed by a last quarter moon, a waning crescent and then a new moon once more.
It takes 29.5 days to go through this cycle of phases once, according to the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
This is what is known as a waxing crescent moon. (Image credit: NASA Goddard)Why does the Moon have phases?
“The moon is only visible to us because it is reflecting the sun’s light,” said Dhara Patel, a space expert at the United Kingdom’s National Space Centre in Leicester. “Wherever the moon is in its orbit around the Earth, it is always half lit up by the sun.” Patel told Live Science. The same goes for the Earth – half of us experience daylight while the other half experience night.
The same half of the moon always faces the Earth, too. “The moon spins on its axis and orbits the Earth in the same amount of time – it’s called synchronous rotation,” Patel said. Sometimes the illuminated half of the moon coincides with the half facing Earth. In that case, we see a Full Moon. This happens when the moon is on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. Earth normally doesn’t block the sunlight because the Moon’s orbit is slightly tilted. When Earth does block the light, we see a lunar eclipse.
During a total solar eclipse – when the sun is obscured by the moon – the Sun’s corona, only visible during the total eclipse, is shown as a crown of white flares from the surface. (Image credit: NASA/Carla Thomas)
When the moon is between Earth and the sun, sunlight is completely illuminating the half facing away from us and so we see no light at all, or a New Moon. Again, the tilt of the moon’s orbit usually prevents the moon from blocking our view of the sun. When it occasionally does we see a solar eclipse.
When sunlight is partially falling on our side and partially on the other we see the intermediate phases such as crescent, quarter and gibbous moons, according to Sky and Telescope.
What is the dark side of the Moon?
People often refer to the side of the moon that always points away from us as the “dark side of the Moon,” perhaps in part due to the Pink Floyd album of the same name. It may be a common phrase, but, according to Patel, it’s not the right terminology to use. “The moon doesn’t have a dark side, it has a far side,” Patel said. That far side is only very rarely completely dark – during a Full Moon when our side is completely illuminated. At all other times, the far side is at least partly illuminated, she said.
What is a lunar or moon calendar?
Here you can see what all the phases of the moon look like. (Image credit: Alberto Agnoletto/EyeEm)
“Throughout human history, a lot of different civilizations and cultures have used the moon to dictate their calendars,” Patel said. In the Gregorian calendar, years are divided into into months, which comes from the word “moonths”. The average length of a calendar month is very close to the 29.5 days it takes for the moon’s phases to cycle through.
The date of the Christian festival of Easter, for example, is calculated using the moon. Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the Spring equinox. If the full Moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter is the next Sunday.
The Jewish and Islamic calendars are also based on the moon.
And Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindu and Thai calendars are also still based on the moon. “In some cultures, the full moon each month is given a particular name to help keep track of time and the seasons,” Patel said.
Additional resourcesLearn more about the phases of the moon using this incredible interactive website from NASA.Hear about the moon’s violent birth and how the phases of the moon have shaped our lives in this video from National Geographic.And for an extra-deep dive, find out everything you ever wanted to know about Earth’s omnipresent satellite in the book “The Book of the Moon: A Guide to Our Closest Neighbor” (Abrams Image, 2019).
Originally published on Live Science
