Waxing Crescent Moon: How to Tell It from a Waning Crescent in Either Hemisphere
A thin silver curve, low after sunset. It is the growing Moon, and which side of it is lit depends on where on Earth you stand.
Try it in the instrument
Set the sky to a waxing crescent Moon as seen from Sydney, Australia.
Also called
No other names found in our sources.
A simplified model
The drawings are computed from the numbers in the sources. They simplify the real sky. For exact times and dates, use official tables.
A few days after the Moon disappears, it comes back as a thin bright curve low in the sky just after the Sun has set. That is the waxing crescent. It is easy to love and easy to confuse with its mirror image, the waning crescent that appears before dawn near the end of the cycle. This guide gives you a way to tell them apart and explains why the curve points the opposite way if you travel from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere.
At the end there is a task in the Moon Dial: set the sky to a waxing crescent as seen from Sydney, Australia.
What a waxing crescent is
The U.S. Naval Observatory defines the waxing crescent as the phase when the Moon appears to be partly lit by direct sunlight, but less than one-half lit, and the fraction of the disk that is lit is increasing. The word waxing means growing.
NASA describes it as a silver sliver. It happens when the illuminated half of the Moon faces mostly away from Earth, with only a tiny portion visible to us. It grows daily as the Moon's orbit carries the Moon's day side farther into view.
Where it sits in the cycle
The waxing crescent comes right after New Moon and before first quarter. The Naval Observatory calls the two crescent phases and the two gibbous phases intermediate phases, each lasting about a week between the primary phases. The Naval Observatory notes that the first time the thin waxing crescent can be seen after New Moon, it is low in the evening sky just after sunset.
In the Moon Dial, the waxing crescent covers ages from just over 1 day up to about 6.3 days. The drawing shows the Moon at an age of about 3.7 days, with the lit fraction near the middle of that range.
Waxing or waning?
Both crescents look like a thin curve, so how do you tell them apart? Use time and growth.
- Time of day. NASA says a waxing crescent rises in the morning after the Sun is up and sets at night after the Sun is down, so you see it in the evening sky after sunset. NASA says a waning crescent rises in the very early morning before sunrise and sets in the afternoon, before sunset, so you see it before dawn.
- Growth. The waxing crescent grows a little every night, and it rises a little later every day, according to NASA. The waning crescent shrinks.
| Crescent | Seen in the | Rises (NASA) | Sets (NASA) | The lit part is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waxing | Evening, after sunset | In the morning, after the Sun is up | At night, after the Sun is down | Growing |
| Waning | Early morning, before sunrise | In the very early morning, before sunrise | In the afternoon, before sunset | Shrinking |
The hemisphere flip
NASA's science pages say that everyone on Earth sees the same phase of the Moon, but people north and south of the equator see it from different angles. If you traveled to the other hemisphere, the Moon would be in the same phase as at home but would look upside down compared with what you are used to. NASA's example is a waning crescent. Seen from the Northern Hemisphere, it appeared on the left side of the Moon, and from the Southern Hemisphere it appeared on the right.
The waxing crescent is the mirror case. In our drawings, which follow the Northern Hemisphere view, the lit edge of a waxing crescent is on the right. In the Southern Hemisphere, the same Moon is lit on the left.
Earthshine
Sometimes, when the Moon is in a crescent phase, you can see the dark part of the Moon glowing dimly. NASA explains that this is sunlight reflecting off Earth's surface onto the Moon's night side. Because Earth is nearly full when seen from the Moon at that time, the light it reflects, called earthshine, is bright enough to light the dark surface a little. If you can see the whole disk faintly while the crescent is bright, that is earthshine.
Common mistakes
- Reading the curve's direction without the hemisphere. The same crescent looks reversed between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
- Calling every crescent a waxing crescent. Check the time of day and whether the lit part is growing or shrinking.
- Looking for it in the early morning. A waxing crescent is an evening Moon. A crescent in the early morning sky is waning.
- Expecting the dial to need one exact age. The waxing crescent lasts about a week, so the game accepts a window of ages.
- Forgetting the view. A request that names a place, such as Sydney, also asks for the Southern Hemisphere view.
Try it in the instrument
Open the Moon Dial and set the sky to a waxing crescent Moon as seen from Sydney, Australia. You need two things to match the request: an age inside the crescent range, and the Southern Hemisphere view. On Bronze, the dial prints the phase names and the window is wide. On Silver you only get tick marks. On Gold you get no marks, the window is narrow, and you only have one mistake: look at which side of the Moon is lit and remember that it flips in the south.
Questions people ask
Is a crescent Moon waxing or waning?
Check the time of day and whether it is growing. A waxing crescent is in the evening sky after sunset and grows each night. A waning crescent is in the early morning sky before sunrise and shrinks. NASA gives the rise and set times for each.
Why is the crescent on the other side in Australia?
The phase is the same everywhere, but people north and south of the equator see it from different angles. NASA says the Moon looks upside down if you move to the other hemisphere.
When is the best time to see a waxing crescent?
In the evening, low in the sky just after sunset, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. It sets at night after the Sun does.
Why can I see the dark part of a crescent Moon?
It is earthshine: sunlight reflected from Earth onto the Moon's night side. NASA says it shows up when the Moon is in a crescent phase.
Sources
- Moon Phases, NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moon-phases/. Opened November 9, 2026.
- Top Moon Questions, NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/moon/top-moon-questions/. Opened November 9, 2026.
- Phases of the Moon and Percent of the Moon Illuminated, U.S. Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Department. https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/moon_phases. Opened November 9, 2026.
We opened each source ourselves on the date shown. The drawings are our own and were checked against the numbers in these sources.
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