The number of Moon names differs slightly from tribe to tribe, but many assign either 12 or 13 full moons to the year. Many of the Moon’s nicknames have come to us from Native American culture because for their way of life, the cycles of the lunar phases were just as important a method of timekeeping as the longer solar cycle of the year (from which the modern Gregorian calendar is derived). Over time, different cultures have given names to full moons across the lunar calendar. The crescent and gibbous Moons each last approximately a week.
The full, quarter and new Moons are all the instants in time when the Moon is exactly fully, half or not at all illuminated from our perspective on Earth. The eight phases of the Moon in order are: These are the banana-shaped crescent Moon, the D-shaped quarter Moon and the almost complete gibbous Moon.įinally, each phase is also named after its position in the full 29.5 day cycle based on whether it is growing (waxing) or shrinking (waning). In between these, the Moon goes through multiple stages of partial illumination during its different phases. If the Moon is on the other side of the Earth compared to the Sun, then the near side of the Moon will be fully lit up: a full Moon. If the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun in its orbit, then the back side of the Moon is being lit up and the side facing the Earth is in darkness. The only exception is during a lunar eclipse. The phases of the moon by James Reynolds (1846-1860)Īt almost all times, half of the Moon is being lit up by the Sun, but this need not be the half that is facing towards the Earth.
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