Every night, the moon becomes brighter as we work through the phases of the moon cycle.
The moon cycle is a series of eight unique stages of moon visibility. According to NASA, the entire cycle takes about 29.5 days, and these different stages occur when sunlight illuminates different parts of the moon, which orbits the earth.
Check out what happened tonight on July 26.
What is the moon phase today?
As of Saturday, July 26, the moon phase is waxing the new moon. There is still not much visible tonight, only 4% of the surface is visible on Earth (according to NASA’s Daily Moon Observation).
It’s the second day of the lunar cycle and with such limited visibility, there’s nothing you can find on the lunar surface tonight, not even binoculars or telescopes.
When is the next full moon?
The next full moon will be on August 9th. The last full moon was on July 10th.
What is the moon phase?
According to NASA, the moon phase is caused by a 29.5-day cycle of the moon’s orbit, which changes the angle between the sun, the moon and the earth. The moon phase is what the moon looks like on the earth around us. We always see the same side of the moon, but how much does the Sun change light up depending on where it is in orbit. This is how we get the full moon, half moon and satellite, which looks completely invisible. There are eight main moon phases that follow the repetitive cycle:
Mixable light speed
new moon – The moon is between the earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, the eyes cannot see).
Waxing the crescent moon – A small piece of light appeared on the right (northern hemisphere).
First quarter – Half of the moon lit up on the right. It looks like half a month.
Waxed eldest son – More than half the lights are lit, but not very full yet.
Full Moon – The entire face of the moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Wake up eldest son – The moon begins to lose light on the right.
Last quarter (or Q3) – Another half month, but now the left side is lit.
A decayed new moon – A thin light left on the left and then turned black again.
