Remembering The Old-Days, Not So Long Ago
I remember when the Moon had 8 phases it went through.
- New Moon, no illumination
- Waxing Crescent,1/4 right side illumination(according to our perspective)
- Half Moon, the first half, 1/2 right side illumination
- Waxing Gibbous, close to full, 3/4 right side illumination
- Full Moon, entire illumination
- Waning Gibbous, 3/4 left side illumination
- Second Half, 1/2 left side illumination
- Waning Crescent, 1/4 left side illumination
- New Moon, cycle repeats
My terrible drawing, but I am sure, if you are over 40, you will remember these charts in school.
The Moon also did this all in 28 days. The cycle was up and down according to our place in our orbit around the Sun, but very predictable. The new Moon cycle, has no rhyme or reason, the media puts out stuff like 1% and 32% illumination, it is not the way it was. The Moon had this very orderly cycle of illumination because it followed the Sun's path (the ecliptic) very closely by +- 5 DEG. Now there is no orderly Moon path and it definitely does not follow the ecliptic any longer.
Round and round she goes, where she stops, no one knows.
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