Waning Gibbous Moon

Waning Gibbous Moon - Jay Clyburn

Waning?  Waxing? Which is which?  Read on!













This picture was taken by Jason Clyburn last weekend using a DSLR and tripod.  It is in fact a 'Waning Gibbous' moon, meaning it is going away or disappearing a little more every night until it reaches 'New' moon.

Confused about the moon phases?  Let's have a brief overview.  'New' moon is when the moon is between the Sun and Earth and the back side (relative to the Earth) is fully illuminated.   During this phase, we don't see the moon at all because the side facing us is not receiving any sunlight at all.  Only the back side.  This is a great time to stargaze because you don't have any sunlight bouncing off the moon and washing out the sky.

After the New moon phase, it starts to 'wax' a little more every night.  A Waxing moon means that we are able to see a little bit more of it every night as more of the moons surface is illuminated (from our perspective.  Half the moon is always fully lit, we just don't always see it).  I like to think of waxing as adding more moon.  When you wax a car, you add wax to it.  Works for me :)  So the moon gets more full every night until it becomes full.

A full moon occurs when the moon is behind the Earth, relative to the Sun.  The whole lit side comes into our view.   This is a time when you will probably experience the worst viewing of the sky because of how bright the moon becomes.

After a full moon occurs, it begins to wane, or lesson how much of the surface is illuminated.  The moon gets less covered every night until it reaches New moon again, and the cycle starts over.  It takes about 30 days for this cycle to happen.