Phases of the Moon

Hey there, young astronomers! Have you ever looked up at the night sky and noticed that the moon looks different each night? Well, that’s because the moon goes through different phases as it travels around the earth.

Imagine you’re playing hide-and-seek with the moon. Look at the image above to find each of the phases below.

Sometimes, the moon hides completely, and we call this a new moon. You can’t see it at all!

But as the days go by, the moon starts to peek out from behind the earth, and we see a little sliver of it. This is called a waxing crescent.

As the moon keeps moving, more and more of it becomes visible each night. It’s like the moon is growing bigger and bigger! When we see exactly half of the moon lit up, we call it a first quarter moon. It’s halfway between a new moon and a full moon.

After the first quarter, we see even more of the moon’s face. This is called a waxing gibbous. It’s almost like a full moon, but not quite there yet!

Then, we reach the full moon! This is when the whole face of the moon is shining bright in the sky. It’s like a big glowing ball up there!

But after the full moon, the moon starts to shrink back again. It’s like it’s playing hide-and-seek in reverse! We see less and less of the moon each night until it disappears completely again. This is called a waning gibbous.

As the moon keeps moving, we see less and less of it until we’re back to a tiny sliver again. This is called a third quarter moon. It’s halfway between a full moon and a new moon.

And finally, the moon disappears completely once more, and we’re back to a new moon, starting the whole cycle over again!

The moon does not actually change shape. But its appearance changes throughout the month because it’s always moving around the earth, showing us different parts of its face. It’s like a cosmic game of hide-and-seek that we get to play with the moon every night!