The moon phases explained
The Moon doesn't change shape. We just see different amounts of its sunlit half as it circles Earth every 29.5 days.
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- Next full moon: , the Hunter's Moon. 13 days away.
- Next new moon: , the darkest skies of the month, best for stargazing.
- The Orionid meteor shower peaks around October 21–22, 2026, before a bright moon washes out the sky.
- “When is the next full moon” gets about 260,000 US searches a month.
The eight phases
- 🌑 New moon: the sunlit side faces away from us.
- 🌒 Waxing crescent
- 🌓 First quarter: half lit, right side (from the Northern Hemisphere).
- 🌔 Waxing gibbous
- 🌕 Full moon
- 🌖 Waning gibbous
- 🌗 Last quarter
- 🌘 Waning crescent
In the Southern Hemisphere the lit side is flipped.
All pages on Moon Phase Hub
Moon
Moon calendars
Full moon names
Wolf MoonSnow MoonWorm MoonPink MoonFlower MoonStrawberry MoonBuck MoonSturgeon MoonHarvest MoonHunter's MoonBeaver MoonCold Moon
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