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Home › Chart guides › Moon Phases Chart
The Moon goes through eight phases, from new moon to full and back, in 29.53 days. This chart lists the phases in order with where each falls in the cycle, how much of the disc is lit and when it rises and sets, plus the numbers behind the cycle.
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All eight phases, in order, with the numbers behind the cycle.
| Phase | Where in the cycle | Lit disc | Lit side | Rises and sets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Moon | Day 0.0 | 0% | Neither | Rises and sets with the Sun |
| Waxing Crescent | Days 0.0 to 7.4 | 1%–49% | Right | Not printed, see the note |
| First Quarter | Day 7.4 | 50% | Right | Rises about midday, sets about midnight |
| Waxing Gibbous | Days 7.4 to 14.8 | 51%–99% | Right | Not printed, see the note |
| Full Moon | Day 14.8 | 100% | All of it | Rises about sunset, sets about sunrise |
| Waning Gibbous | Days 14.8 to 22.1 | 99%–51% | Left | Not printed, see the note |
| Last Quarter | Day 22.1 | 50% | Left | Rises about midnight, sets about midday |
| Waning Crescent | Days 22.1 to 29.5 | 49%–1% | Left | Not printed, see the note |
Rise and set times are printed only for the four phases where two independent sources say the same thing. For the other four, only one source gives a time, so this sheet leaves the column blank rather than print it.
| One full cycle of phases | 29.53059 days, or 29 d 12 h 44 min 3 s |
| One orbit against the stars | 27.321661 days |
| Each of the eight phases | about 3.69 days |
| Each quarter of the cycle | about 7.38 days |
| Lit disc at first and last quarter | exactly one half |
| Longest and shortest cycles | about 29.27 to 29.83 days |
| The Moon makes no light | it shines by reflected sunlight only |
| The Sun lights half of it | always, whatever phase you can see |
| A phase is a viewing angle | how much of that lit half faces us |
| One face always toward us | it turns once for every orbit it makes |
| There is no dark side | the far side gets the same sunlight |
| South of the equator | the whole sequence appears mirrored |
| The phase is global | everyone sees the same phase at once |
The eight phases and their order were taken from the NASA moon phases page and from the English Wikipedia article on lunar phase, and printed only because the two agree. The lit fraction of every disc on this sheet was computed from its phase angle and then measured off the drawing itself. The length of the cycle, 29.53059 days, appears in both articles and is checked here against its own stated breakdown into days, hours, minutes and seconds.
NASA calls the seventh phase the third quarter and Wikipedia calls it the last quarter. They are the same phase, and the Wikipedia article says so, which is why both names are not a disagreement.
Seen from south of the equator the whole sequence is mirrored: the side of the disc that is lit swaps over. The phase itself is the same everywhere on Earth at the same moment.