1. The Lunar Cycle
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2. Why does the moon have phases?
The revolution of the Moon around the Earth causes the Moon to appear to have phases.
The Lunar Cycle is approximately 27 days or 1 month.
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3. 8 Moon Phases New Moon Waxing Crescent First Quarter Waxing Gibbous
Full Moon
Waning Gibbous
Last Quarter
Waning Crescent

4. New Moon
New Moon is not visible from Earth. The moon is between the Sun and the Earth.
The dark side is facing us.

5. Waxing Crescent
Waxing means that the bright side is increasing. The right side is the bright side.
Crescent means that less than half of the moon is illuminated.

6. First Quarter The RIGHT HALF of the moon is illuminated.
The illuminated side is increasing.

7. Waxing Gibbous
Gibbous means that more than half is visible, but it is not quite full.

8. Full Moon
The moon is completely illuminated.

9. Waning Gibbous
Waning means that the bright side is decreasing. The left side is the bright side.

10. Last Quarter The LEFT HALF of the moon is illuminated.
The illuminated side is decreasing.

11. Waning Crescent
Waning means that the bright side is decreasing. The left side is the bright side.
Crescent means that less than half of the moon is illuminated.

12. Like the earth, half of the moon is always lighted by the sun.
Also like the Earth, half of the moon is completely dark.
The moon does not really change. We just see the different phases as it revolves around the Earth.