Moon Phase Today

What are the eight phases of the moon?

The moon's rhythm asks us to learn only eight shapes, repeated in the same order every lunar cycle. Four primary phases occur at exact instants; four intermediate phases fill the days between. One complete circuit, new moon back to new moon, averages 29.5 days, and our full moon calendar maps every day of it.

• 🌑 New Moon. The Moon sits between Earth and the Sun, its sunlit side turned away from us, so the disc rises and sets unseen with the Sun. Practitioners treat this dark night as the traditional moment for naming new intentions.
• 🌒 Waxing Crescent. A thin sliver of light grows on the Moon's right side, seen from the northern hemisphere, low in the western sky after sunset. Tradition reads the returning light as first steps and momentum.
• 🌓 First Quarter. Half the face is illuminated, yet the name says quarter because the Moon has completed one quarter of its orbit. It rises near noon, sets near midnight, and tradition marks it as the moment to act.
• 🌔 Waxing Gibbous. More than half the disc is illuminated and still swelling toward full; gibbous descends from a Latin word for hump. The traditional work is refinement and patience.
• 🌕 Full Moon. Earth sits between the Sun and the Moon, so the face we see is fully illuminated, rising near sunset and setting near sunrise. Many traditions mark the peak with gratitude, release, and cleansing crystals in moonlight.
• 🌖 Waning Gibbous. The light begins to recede, or wane, and moonrise slips later, so this phase often greets early risers in the morning sky. Tradition reads it as time to share what the peak revealed.
• 🌗 Last Quarter. The opposite half of the face is now lit, three quarters of the orbit complete. It rises near midnight and lingers into the daytime sky. The traditional theme is clearing and forgiveness.
• 🌘 Waning Crescent. A thinning crescent rises before dawn in the eastern sky, the last visible light before the Moon returns to the Sun's glare. Tradition treats these mornings as deep rest before the next new moon.

Why does the moon have phases?

The Moon makes no light of its own; it reflects sunlight. The Sun always illuminates half of the lunar surface, and a phase is simply how much of that lit half faces Earth as the Moon travels its orbit. When the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, the dark half faces us, a new moon; when Earth sits in the middle, the whole lit face turns toward us, a full moon.

The most common misconception is that Earth's shadow causes the phases. It does not. Earth's shadow touches the Moon only during a lunar eclipse, which occurs just a few times a year, as NASA's moon phases explainer sets out. The everyday march of crescent, quarter, and gibbous shapes is pure viewing geometry; follow the shadow events with our eclipse tracker.

How long does a moon phase last?

A full cycle of phases, the synodic month, averages 29.53 days, so each of the eight phases spans roughly 3.7 days on average. The Moon orbits Earth in 27.32 days, but Earth keeps moving around the Sun, so the Moon needs about two extra days to show the same phase again. That 29.5 day beat is the original month, a word that descends from moon. For the practice layer, read Selene's complete moon phases guide.

Full moon names through the year

Many cultures honor each full moon with a seasonal name. The list most quoted today was popularized by North American almanacs, above all the Old Farmer's Almanac, drawing on Algonquian and colonial farming traditions. June's full moon is the Strawberry Moon, named for the short wild berry season.

• January: Wolf Moon, for wolves heard in deep winter
• February: Snow Moon, for the heaviest snows
• March: Worm Moon, for thawing ground and returning earthworms
• April: Pink Moon, for creeping phlox in early bloom
• May: Flower Moon, for late spring in full bloom
• June: Strawberry Moon, for the brief strawberry harvest
• July: Buck Moon, for male deer growing velvet antlers
• August: Sturgeon Moon, for the great northern lake fish
• September: Corn Moon, or the Harvest Moon when it falls nearest the autumn equinox
• October: Hunter's Moon, for the hunt across cleared fields
• November: Beaver Moon, for lodges finished before the freeze
• December: Cold Moon, for the year's longest nights

The Old Farmer's Almanac keeps each year's dates, and our 2026 lunations library pairs every lunation of 2026 with its zodiac sign and ritual focus.