The moon is always the friend of the earth. It’s up there in the sky, changing from a curved blade to a disc and back again. One night, it disappears. We sing songs about it and send spaceships and astronauts to visit it. If you love stargazing, make the moon part of your viewing routine. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of your moon viewing.
Where did the moon come from?
The moon is our only natural satellite. We might pick up a temporary mini-moon here and there, but a moon is Earth’s movement or death. Scientists have a few theories about how the moon formed, but there is a popular consensus that it was created billions of years ago when a Mars-sized object slammed into Earth. Debris from the impact piled up on the moon. A 2022 study suggests that the moon may have formed within hours of the impact.
The Moon is about 240,000 kilometers from Earth. That’s enough space to fit 30 Earths in. Sometimes, it gets a little closer, and sometimes it gets a little further away.
What are the phases of the moon?
The moon goes through eight phases during each cycle.
When you look up at the moon, you might think of how it shines like a light in the sky. In fact, the moon does not produce light; it reflects sunlight. There are eight phases of the moon during the 29.5 day cycle: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent.
The crescent moon can wax or wane depending on where it is in the lunar cycle.
The phases exist because of the way the moon orbits the Earth.
“Sunlight illuminates half of the Earth and half of the moon at all times,” NASA said in a statement. “But as the moon orbits the Earth, at some points in its orbit part of the moon lit by the sun can be seen from Earth, and at other points, we can only see parts of the moon that are in shadow.”
A new moon is a shadowy moon, which makes it seem as if the moon has disappeared. A waxing crescent is a crescent of light that occurs when the moon is full. The first quarter is when the moon is a quarter of the way around the Earth, even though the moon appears half in shadow and half in light.
The waxing gibbous comes next. The word “gibbous” is of Latin origin meaning the “humped” shape of the illuminated part of the moon. Next comes the triumphant full moon when all faces are illuminated due to the position of the sun opposite the moon with the Earth in the middle.
The cycle continues after the full moon. Waning gibbous means that the part of the moon lit by the sun is receding, but still has that humped shape. Third quarter is back to half moon view, but it means the moon is three quarters of the way in its orbit around the Earth. The waning sliver is a fingernail again, but the illuminated part of the moon continues to shrink before it pulls the waning act of becoming a new moon.
How often do full moons occur?
The lunar cycle of phases does not exactly match the days of our earthly calendar, so the timing of full moons can change. You will experience a full moon once during each 29.5 day cycle. Most years, that means we get 12 full months. About every 2.5 years, however, we get 13 full months in a calendar year.
Where do the words full moon come from?
Full moons that occur throughout the year come with colorful names. In the US, you’ll hear about the moon of the wolf, the moon of the caterpillar, the moon of the flower, the moon of strawberries and the moon of the hunter, among others. The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the source for many of these words. An almanac is a publication of weather forecasts, planting guides and astronomy dating back to the late 1700s. There is a digital version now. “The month names we use in the Old Farmer’s Almanac come from Native Americans, American colonists or other traditional North American sources that have been passed down from generation to generation,” the almanac says.
The names of the full moon vary by culture, place and culture. The March full moon, for example, is often called a worm moon. The almanac traces this name to the warming of the soil in the spring when the worms are active again after the cold months. Other names for this moon include eagle moon, goose moon, snow moon or sugar moon. It’s a poetic way of thinking about how full moons connect with the changing seasons.
What is a supermoon?
The apparent size difference between an average full moon and a supermoon can be subtle.
A supermoon is more subtle than its name might suggest. It occurs when the moon is at or near the closest point in its path to Earth during a full moon — a point called perigee. At its farthest, the moon is about 251,000 kilometers from Earth. At perigee, it’s about 226,000 miles away, NASA said. A supermoon may seem bigger and brighter than a full moon, but it won’t affect you like a giant pizza pie.
Expect three to four months a year. “Supermoon” is an unofficial term, but it sounds cool to say something like “super harvest blood moon.”
What is a blue moon?
The most common definition of a blue moon is the second moon in two full moons. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean the moon looks like a cosmic blueberry. The term “once in a blue moon” is used as a smart phrase for something that rarely happens, but you can expect a blue moon to roll in every two to three years. If you won the lottery “once in a blue moon,” you would be filthy rich. Fun fact: February is too short a month to have a blue moon again. The next blue moon will appear on May 31, 2026, so mark your calendar.
What is a lunar eclipse?
NASA observed a large lunar eclipse on September 27, 2015.
You need a full moon to experience a lunar eclipse. You also need a certain set of conditions where the Earth casts its shadow on the moon, casting some or all of it into darkness. The sun must be on the opposite side of our planet from the moon for this to happen. That is also how we get the full moon. Normally, we get a few lunar eclipses a year. We don’t get one every month because of a quirk in the moon’s orbit that allows it to avoid Earth’s shadow.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the entire moon is covered by the Earth’s shadow. A partial lunar eclipse means that only one more month is in shadow.
A lunar eclipse is sometimes called a blood moon. That descriptive name came about because the moon can pick up a red color during a solar eclipse because of the way sunlight filters through the Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA maintains a list of lunar eclipses that shows the dates, types and locations of visible eclipses. The next lunar eclipse is a total eclipse scheduled for March 14, 2025. It will be seen in parts of the Pacific, the Americas, Europe and Africa. There’s a second total lunar eclipse on tap for September 7th benefiting Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Does the full moon affect the tides?
The Moon and the Earth are attracted to each other by the force of gravity. On Earth, the moon’s gravitational pull causes oceans to bulge out on both the near side and the far side of the moon.
Tides are complex, and the moon plays an important role in how they work. The couples of the Earth and the moon dancing means that the two bodies are interacting with each other. The moon’s gravity causes the water masses in our planet’s oceans to flow toward the moon and the other side of the planet — like a spiked ball. This is called tidal force.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offers a simple explanation of what happens on the moon and tides: “As the Earth rotates, your region of Earth passes through both of these tides each day. If you are at one of the tides, you experience high tide. If you are not at one of the tides, you experience low tide. Earth’s mass , weather, wind and the sun’s gravity also affect the waves and how bad the waves are.
Both new and full moons affect sea levels. A full moon occurs when the moon is opposite the sun and the Earth is in the middle. A new moon occurs when the moon is between the Earth and the sun.
“In both cases, the sun’s gravitational pull is ‘added’ to the moon on Earth, causing the ocean to swell less than normal,” NOAA said. “This means that high tides are slightly higher and low tides are slightly lower than average.”
This trend is known as spring tide. It is not related to the season but rather refers to the concept of budding.
Is there a dark side to the moon?
Pink Floyd’s music might make you believe that the side of the moon we don’t always see is covered in shadows, but it isn’t. There may be dark parts of the moon where the sun does not shine, but no dark side is permanent. The same side of the moon always faces Earth, which is why we see the same craters and surfaces — the face of “man on the moon.” The other side is more accurately described as the far side of the moon, rather than the dark side.
Moon gazing tips
NASA’s Artemis I spacecraft landed on the SLS rocket in 2022 with a view of the full moon.
Enjoy the full moon: There is a certain time when the moon is full. That may or may not work so it’s a good time for you to figure it out. But don’t worry, the moon usually appears full during the day on either side of the full moon, so enjoy the view.
Use binoculars: You don’t need a high-end telescope to get a closer look at the moon. Get out a decent set of binoculars and brace your elbows against a wall or other solid surface to minimize shaking. You may be surprised at the amount of detail you see as craters, highlands (bright areas) and the moon’s oceans (dark areas) emerge. The full moon is the best time to try this.
Check out Timeanddate.com’s monthly guides: Timeanddate.com provides detailed information on the timing of a full moon, when and where to see a lunar eclipse and upcoming dates for events such as green moons. It is very useful to dial in the moonrise and moonset times in your area.
Find a lunar eclipse: Unlike a solar eclipse, you don’t need special glasses to view a lunar eclipse. Go and look. The path of the eclipse may not coincide with your location, so keep an eye on the live stream to get in on the action even if the eclipse doesn’t happen to you.
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