Where’s the moon? Waning crescent

Old moon with earthshine, captured by Najwa Nazri at Telok Kemang Observatory, Port Dickson, Malaysia on February 12, 2018.

A waning crescent moon is sometimes called an old moon. It’s seen in the east before dawn. This month’s old moon recently swept past the planets Jupiter, Mars and Saturn before dawn. The moon is now showing us less and less of its lighted side each morning, and rising closer to the sunrise. It’s heading toward new moon on February 15. This upcoming new moon will cause a partial solar eclipse on February 15.

Dunca Tolmie in Australia caught this image of the planets and moon on February 9, 2018 and wrote: “Jupiter, Mars, the moon and Saturn amonst the stars of Scorpius and Sagittarius (the Teapot is standing on its handle to the right of Saturn). A handful of Messier objects are also visible.”

Marcus Rose in Bangalore, India also caught the moon and planets on February 9, 2018, but from a more northerly location on Earth’s globe than the image above. Jupiter is the bright object above and to the right of the moon. Mars is the reddish object below and to the right (brightest “star” near the bottom of the image).

Moon and Saturn Sunday morning – February 11, 2018 – from Paul Dawson in Boise, Idaho.

As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.

Four keys to understanding moon phases

Where’s the moon? Waxing crescent
Where’s the moon? First quarter
Where’s the moon? Waxing gibbous
What’s special about a full moon?
Where’s the moon? Waning gibbous
Where’s the moon? Last quarter
Where’s the moon? Waning crescent
Where’s the moon? New phase

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/GLfilJ

Old moon with earthshine, captured by Najwa Nazri at Telok Kemang Observatory, Port Dickson, Malaysia on February 12, 2018.

A waning crescent moon is sometimes called an old moon. It’s seen in the east before dawn. This month’s old moon recently swept past the planets Jupiter, Mars and Saturn before dawn. The moon is now showing us less and less of its lighted side each morning, and rising closer to the sunrise. It’s heading toward new moon on February 15. This upcoming new moon will cause a partial solar eclipse on February 15.

Dunca Tolmie in Australia caught this image of the planets and moon on February 9, 2018 and wrote: “Jupiter, Mars, the moon and Saturn amonst the stars of Scorpius and Sagittarius (the Teapot is standing on its handle to the right of Saturn). A handful of Messier objects are also visible.”

Marcus Rose in Bangalore, India also caught the moon and planets on February 9, 2018, but from a more northerly location on Earth’s globe than the image above. Jupiter is the bright object above and to the right of the moon. Mars is the reddish object below and to the right (brightest “star” near the bottom of the image).

Moon and Saturn Sunday morning – February 11, 2018 – from Paul Dawson in Boise, Idaho.

As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.

Four keys to understanding moon phases

Where’s the moon? Waxing crescent
Where’s the moon? First quarter
Where’s the moon? Waxing gibbous
What’s special about a full moon?
Where’s the moon? Waning gibbous
Where’s the moon? Last quarter
Where’s the moon? Waning crescent
Where’s the moon? New phase

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/GLfilJ