A couple of photos of last night's Moon. Some people have contacted me to ask why the phase below is called a 'first quarter Moon' when it looks like a half Moon. It's quite straight forward really: as the Moon waxes (grows) from a thin crescent it reaches the stage- for the first time in its 28 day cycle - when a quarter of the surface is illuminated. As it continues in its orbit around the Earth, it reaches full Moon and then begins to wane (shrink) until we see the 'last quarter' - the western hemisphere - illuminated.
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