Full Moon
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by AlanE (talk | contribs) at 23:12, September 6, 2008. It may differ significantly from current revision.
A Full Moon is the phase of the Moon when it is fully illuminated as a circle. Full Moons occur approximately every 28 days. Lunar eclipses may only occur during a Full Moon, while solar eclipses may occur only during a new moon.
Two full moons in a month - a fairly rare occurrence (every 32 months) - is called a "blue moon," leading to the phrase "once in a blue moon" to describe things that happen rarely.
The phases of the moon are:
- New
- Waxing Crescent (looks quarter full)
- First Quarter (looks half full)
- Waxing Gibbous (looks three quarter full)
- Full
- Waning Gibbous (looks three quarters full)
- Third Quarter (looks half full)
- Waning Crescent (looks quarter full)
- New (again)