The Waxing Gibbous phase is one of the secondary phases of the Moon.
Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure is a point-and-click indie adventure game that was funded on Kickstarter in May of 2016 and has been underdevelopment by Stuck in Attick ever since. The game has been greenlight by the Steam community. It released on August 07, 2019 on Steam and GOG. Overview Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure (PC, Mac, Linux) is a comedy point 'n click love letter to classic-era Lucas. The current phase of the moon is waxing gibbous. The sun is shining at an angle from behind the Earth. We are past first quarter so more than half the moon is in sunlight, but the sun's light.
What does gibbous mean? The definition of gibbous refers to a moon in between a half-moon but less than a full moon. Definition of gibbous in the Definitions.net dictionary. Meaning of gibbous. What does gibbous mean? Information and translations of gibbous in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web.
There are eight phases: four primary phases( the New and Full Moon, the First and Third Quarter) and intermediate ones ( The Waning Crescent and Gibbous and the Waxing Crescent and Gibbous).
Gibbous Fashion
Even though we call them secondary phases, they occupy 21.6% of a lunar month. Let's see what a Waxing Gibbous phase means, what does it symbolize, and when can we see it.
What is Waxing Gibbous Moon Phase?
The Waxing Gibbous is an intermediate phase of the Moon that starts right after the First Quarter when the illumination is 50%.
The name Gibbous comes from the Moon's shape, which is less than a Full Moon but more extensive than the Third Quarter's semicircle shape.
Gibbous Meaning Moon
Waxing means that the Moon is getting bigger. In this phase, the Moon's illumination increases from 50.1% to 99.9%.
What Does a Waxing Gibbous Symbolize?
The Waxing Gibbous Moon symbolizes the final steps you have to make to finish your work, the final stages of your project. It is the time when you can see the light from the end of the tunnel, but also the time for the final stretch and sprint to finish what you have started until the Full Moon so that you could enjoy the satisfaction of your hard work.
How Does a Waxing Gibbous Moon Affect Us?
Under the Waxing Gibbous Moon, you can feel the urge to change the direction of your life or your project. It is important not to resist this feeling. Instead of fighting, embrace it and trust it because only good things will happen if you do so. Some sacrifices will likely be needed to benefit from the reevaluation.
What is the Difference Between a Waxing Gibbous Moon and a Waning Gibbous Moon?
In the Waxing Gibbous phase, most of the Moon is visible from Earth, its illumination increasing every night until the Full Moon. On the other hand, the Waning Gibbous phase is when the Moon's light starts to wane, and the surface we can see is steadily shrinking until it reaches the Last Quarter phase.
In the Waxing Gibbous phase, the sunlit part of the Moon is at the West and in the Waning Gibbous phase at the East.
How Do You Tell if the Moon is Waxing or Waning?
It's not very hard to distinguish the waning Moon from the waxing Moon. It doesn't matter where you live on Earth. If you look after the Moon at sunset and you can see it, it means the Moon it's waxing.
In its waning phase, the Moon isn't visible at sunset. It rises later in the night until it reaches the waning crescent phase.
In the Northern Hemisphere, when the Moon is waxing, the part in the shadow will be on the left. When the shadow part is on the right, the Moon is waning. For the Southern Hemisphere, the situation is reversed.
What is the Waxing Gibbous Moon Schedule for 2020?
If you want to watch the Waxing Gibbous phase in 2020, here is the list with the every month schedule for 2020:
- January: From the 5th until the 8th, with maximum visibility of 94%
- February: From the 4th until the 7th, with visibility between 74% to 96%.
- March: From the 4th until the 8th, with maximum visibility at 96%.
- April: From the 3rd until the 6th. The maximum visibility will be at 97% on the last day of the phase.
- May: From the 2nd until the 5th, with maximum visibility at 95%.
- June: From the 1st until the 3rd, with maximum visibility at 93%, but also the last day of the month.
- July: The first three days and the last three days of the month.
- August: On the 1st and on the last five days of the month, with the peak of illumination at 98%.
- September: From the 26th until the 29th, with maximum illumination at 95%.
- October: From the 25th until the 29th, with the peak of illumination at 96%
- November: From the 24th until the 28th. The illumination will be at 97%.
- December: From the 24th until the 28th, the maximum illumination will be 98%.
Waning Gibbous
What is the Waxing Gibbous Moon Schedule for 2021?
Check out the list below if you are curious when the Waxing Gibbous phase happens in 2021:
- January: From the 23rd until the 26th
- February: From the 21st until the 25th
- March: From the 23rd until the 26th
- April: From the 22nd until the 25th
- May: From the 9th until the 12th
- June: From the 21st until the 24th
- July: From the 19th until the 22nd
- August: From the 17th until the 20th
- September: From the 15th until the 19th
- October: From the 15th until the 18th
- November: From the 13th until the 17th
- December: From the 13th until the 17th
How Long Does a Waxing Gibbous Last?
Each of the four main phases( The New Moon, the First and the Third Quarter, and the Full Moon) of the Moon last 3.4% of its cycle, but the four additional phases( the Waxing Crescent and Gibbous and the Waning Crescent and Gibbous) last 21.6% of the length of the cycle.
Considering this, the Waxing Gibbous phase lasts for 6.375 days (from 53.4% to 96.4% lit). What is the Moon phase today? Find out here. If you are curious about the Moon phase of tomorrow, check this out. What was the Moon's phase yesterday? Find out here.
What Comes After Waxing Gibbous?
The next phase after the Waxing Gibbous is a primary one, the Full Moon. In this phase, the Moon is at its most massive and brighter point, as seen from the Earth. The Full Moon occurs when the Sun and the Moon are aligned on opposite sides of the Earth.
The Full Moon lasts for two or three nights with an illumination of 99% or 100%. Practically, the Full Moon lasts just for a moment, but it appears full much longer because it is highly illuminated by the Sun.
Did You Know?
- It doesn't matter where you are on Earth. The same area of the Moon is illuminated, but depending on your location, the date, and the time, the sunlit part of the Waxing Gibbous Moon may appear on the bottom, the top, the left, or the right.
- The line that separates the illuminated and the dark areas of the Moon is known as the terminator.
- Because the Waxing Gibbous is an intermediate phase of the Moon, there is no symbol in the calendar representing it. Only the primary phases ( The Full Moon, the New Moon, the First and Third Quarter) have symbols. These symbols may be confusing for the Southern Hemisphere people because they reflect the Moon's appearance in the Northern Hemisphere.
-There are 4 kinds of lunar months:
- Anomalistic - 27 days, 13 hours, 18 minutes, 37.4 seconds. It's the period between one perigee and the next one.
- Nodical - 27 days, 5 hours, 5 minutes, 35.9 seconds. It is the time that it takes the Moon to pass through one node and return to it.
- Sidereal - 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.5 seconds. Using stars as a reference, that's how long it takes for the Moon to circle the Earth.
- Synodical - 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.7 seconds. This is the basis for most calendars we use today, and this is how we divide the year. The Moon circles the Earth in this length of time, using the Sun as reference.
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Have you ever wondered what causes the moon phases? We all know that its appearance changes over time. But why? The good way to understand the phases of the moon is to examine an earth-moon-sun diagram:Diagram Explanation
The illustration may look a little complex at first, but it's easy to explain.
Sunlight is shown coming in from the right. The earth, of course, is at the center of the diagram. The moon is shown at 8 key stages during its revolution around the earth. The moon phase name is shown alongside the image. The dotted line from the earth to the moon represents your line of sight when looking at the moon. The large moon image shows what you would see at that point in the cycle. For the waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent phases you have to mentally turn yourself upside down when imagining the line of sight. When you do this, you'll 'see' that the illuminated portion is on your left, just as you see in the large image.
One important thing to notice is that exactly one half of the moon is always illuminated by the sun. Of course that is perfectly logical, but you need to visualize it in order to understand the phases. At certain times we see both the sunlit portion and the shadowed portion -- and that creates the various moon phase shapes we are all familiar with. Also note that the shadowed part of the moon is invisible to the naked eye; in the diagram above, it is only shown for clarification purposes. Finally, please realize this diagram is only meant to demonstrate how the phases work; the small inner moons in the diagram do not show the fact that the same side of the moon always faces Earth.
So the basic explanation is that the lunar phases are created by changing angles (relative positions) of the earth, the moon and the sun, as the moon orbits the earth.
If you'd like to examine the phases of the moon more closely, via computer software, you may be interested in this moon phases calendar software.
Moon Phases Simplified
It's probably easiest to understand the moon cycle in this order: new moon and full moon, first quarter and third quarter, and the phases in between.
As shown in the above diagram, the new moon occurs when the moon is positioned between the earth and sun. The three objects are in approximate alignment (why 'approximate' is explained below). The entire illuminated portion of the moon is on the back side of the moon, the half that we cannot see.
At a full moon, the earth, moon, and sun are in approximate alignment, just as the new moon, but the moon is on the opposite side of the earth, so the entire sunlit part of the moon is facing us. The shadowed portion is entirely hidden from view.
The first quarter and third quarter moons (both often called a 'half moon'), happen when the moon is at a 90 degree angle with respect to the earth and sun. So we are seeing exactly half of the moon illuminated and half in shadow.
Once you understand those four key moon phases, the phases between should be fairly easy to visualize, as the illuminated portion gradually transitions between them.
An easy way to remember and understand those 'between' lunar phase names is by breaking out and defining 4 words: crescent, gibbous, waxing, and waning. The word crescent refers to the phases where the moon is less than half illuminated. The word gibbous refers to phases where the moon is more than half illuminated. Waxing essentially means 'growing' or expanding in illumination, and waning means 'shrinking' or decreasing in illumination.
Thus you can simply combine the two words to create the phase name, as follows:
After the new moon, the sunlit portion is increasing, but less than half, so it is waxing crescent. After the first quarter, the sunlit portion is still increasing, but now it is more than half, so it is waxing gibbous. After the full moon (maximum illumination), the light continually decreases. So the waning gibbous phase occurs next. Following the third quarter is the waning crescent, which wanes until the light is completely gone -- a new moon.
The Moon's Orbit
You may have personally observed that the moon goes through a complete moon phases cycle in about one month. That's true, but it's not exactly one month. The time required for the moon to move to the same position (same phase) as seen by an observer on earth is called the synodic period or lunation and it is 29.5305882 days on average (+/- 0.27 days due to the varying distance between the earth and the moon). If you were to view the moon cycling the earth from outside our solar system (the viewpoint of the stars), the time required is 27.3217 days, roughly two days less. This figure is called the sidereal period or orbital period. Why is the synodic period different from the sidereal period? The short answer is because on earth, we are viewing the moon from a moving platform: during the moon cycle, the earth has moved approximately one month along its year-long orbit around the sun, altering our angle of view with respect to the moon, and thus altering the phase. The earth's orbital direction is such that it lengthens the period for earthbound observers.
Although the synodic and sidereal periods can be used in certain calculations, the moon phase can't be precisely calculated by simple division of days because the moon's motion (orbital speed and position) is affected and perturbed by various forces of different strengths. Hence, complex equations are used to determine the exact position and phase of the moon at any given point in time.
Also, looking at the diagram (and imagining it to scale), you may have wondered why, at a new moon, the moon doesn't block the sun, and at a full moon, why the earth doesn't block sunlight from reaching the moon. The reason is because the moon's orbit about the earth is about 5 degrees off from the earth-sun orbital plane.
However, at special times during the year, the earth, moon, and sun do in fact 'line up'. When the moon blocks the sun or a part of it, it's called a solar eclipse, and it can only happen during the new moon phase. When the earth casts a shadow on the moon, it's called a lunar eclipse, and can only happen during the full moon phase. Roughly 4 to 7 eclipses happen in any given year, but most of them minor or 'partial' eclipses. Major lunar or solar eclipses are relatively uncommon.
Moon Software
If you want to follow the phases of the moon, you should definitely take a look at QuickPhase Pro, our flagship moon software product for your personal computer. This attractive and fun software covers thousands of years of past and future moon phases and is easy to use.