Waxing Gibbous Moon: Why It Is Up in the Evening and How to Tell It from a Full Moon
A waxing gibbous Moon is more than half lit and growing toward full. It is already up in the afternoon and stays out for most of the night.
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.
After the half-lit first quarter, the Moon keeps growing. Each evening a bit more of its face is bright, until only a narrow dark edge is left. For about a week the Moon is neither half lit nor full. This is the waxing gibbous.
This guide explains what a waxing gibbous Moon is, where it sits in the 29.5-day cycle, when it rises and sets, and how to tell it from a full Moon. At the end you can try it in the Moon Dial.
What a waxing gibbous Moon is
The Moon makes no light of its own, and the Sun always lights half of it. The U.S. Naval Observatory describes the waxing gibbous as the phase when the Moon appears to be more than one-half but not fully illuminated by direct sunlight, with the lit fraction of the disk increasing. The word waxing means growing. NASA's Space Place puts the position in plain words: a waxing gibbous is between a half Moon and a full Moon.
NASA's phase notes say that by now most of the Moon's day side has come into view, and the Moon looks brighter in the sky. The Naval Observatory gives the range in numbers. At the quarters, 50 percent of the disk is lit, and at full Moon, 100 percent. During the gibbous phases the percent lit is between 50 and 100.
Where it sits in the cycle
The waxing gibbous comes after first quarter and before full Moon. The Naval Observatory calls the crescent and gibbous phases intermediate phases. Each one lasts about a week between the primary phases, and almanacs publish dates only for the primary ones. NASA's visualization team adds that new, full and quarter Moons happen on specific days, while the crescent and gibbous phases are transitions that span several days.
The cycle takes about 29.5 days, and the Moon's age is the number of days counted from the new Moon. A quarter of the cycle is about 7.4 days, and half is about 14.8 days. The second figure matches the 14.77 days from new Moon to full Moon given by the University of Hawaiʻi's science education program. So a waxing gibbous Moon has an age between about 7.4 and 14.8 days. The middle of that range is about 11 days, the age drawn below.
In the drawing, sunlight comes from the right. The Moon has passed the top of its orbit and is heading for the left side, where it will sit opposite the Sun at full Moon. Seen from Earth, the Sun and Moon are now more than 90 degrees apart, the angle of the quarter phases, but not yet opposite each other. The Naval Observatory says first and last quarters occur when the Sun and Moon are about 90 degrees apart in the sky, and full Moon when they are at nearly opposite positions.
When it rises and sets
NASA gives a rule of thumb for most latitudes. A waxing gibbous Moon rises in the afternoon, before sunset, and sets in the early hours of the morning, before sunrise. So it is already up when the Sun goes down, and it stays in the sky for most of the night. NASA's visualization team describes it the same way: visible in the early evening and up for most of the night.
The table shows the waxing gibbous between its neighbors.
| Phase | Percent lit (Naval Observatory) | Rises (NASA) | Sets (NASA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| First quarter | 50 | Around midday | Around the middle of the night |
| Waxing gibbous | Between 50 and 100 | In the afternoon, before sunset | In the early hours, before sunrise |
| Full Moon | 100 | At sunset | At sunrise |
NASA notes that the Moon rises a little later every day. NOAA explains part of that shift. Its tide pages define a lunar day as the time for a spot on Earth to turn from one position under the Moon to the same position again, and they put it at 24 hours and 50 minutes. That is 50 minutes longer than a solar day, because the Moon moves around Earth in the same direction that Earth spins, so Earth needs extra time to catch up. The Moon therefore returns to the same place in your sky about 50 minutes later each day.
These are patterns, not timetables. NASA says the time the Moon is visible depends on its phase, the time of year and your location, so for exact moonrise and moonset times you should check local predictions.
How to recognize it in the sky
Which night of the phase you see matters. The share of the disk that is lit changes slowly near full Moon. The Naval Observatory says the Moon may look 100 percent lit only on the night closest to the exact full Moon. On the night before it is 97 to 99 percent lit, and two days from full Moon it is 93 to 97 percent lit. Most people would not notice the difference. So the last evenings of a waxing gibbous phase look almost full.
Two clues separate them. First, a waxing gibbous Moon still has a thin dark edge, while a full Moon is completely lit. Second, the time of moonrise. A waxing gibbous rises in the afternoon, before sunset, and a full Moon rises at sunset.
The waxing gibbous is also a good phase for surface detail. NASA's Moon viewing tips recommend phases other than the full Moon for craters and mountains, because the shadows on the surface are more pronounced and help you pick out features you might miss. NASA also tells binocular users to focus along the terminator, the line between light and dark, where features cast long shadows that make them clearer. On a waxing gibbous Moon the terminator is the curved line where the bright area ends and the dark edge begins. NASA's visualization shows it moving across the Moon's face as the phase changes, so a few nights of watching will bring new features into the light.
Common mistakes
- Calling it a full Moon. A waxing gibbous is less than fully lit, and it rises before sunset, not at sunset.
- Mixing it up with a waning gibbous. Both are more than half lit. The waxing one is growing and rises in the afternoon. The waning one is shrinking and rises at night, after sunset.
- Blaming Earth's shadow for the dark edge. NASA says Earth's shadow affects the Moon only during a lunar eclipse. The dark edge is the part of the Moon turned away from the Sun.
- Expecting one exact age. The phase lasts about a week, so the dial accepts a range of ages.
- Forgetting the hemisphere. From the Northern Hemisphere a waxing Moon begins to appear from the viewer's right-hand side, according to the University of Hawaiʻi. For observers in the Southern Hemisphere the order of shapes is reversed.
Try it in the instrument
Open the Moon Dial and set the sky to a waxing gibbous Moon. The target is an age of about 11 days, roughly midway between first quarter (about 7.4 days) and full Moon (about 14.8 days). Aim for a disk that is more than half lit, with the lit edge on the right. The request names no place, so the default Northern Hemisphere view is the one you need.
The phase lasts about a week, so the dial accepts a range of ages rather than one number. Go too far and the dial reads full Moon. Go the other way and it reads first quarter. On Bronze the dial prints the phase names. On Silver you only get tick marks. On Gold you get no marks, so you have to read the picture: more than half of the disk lit, with the bright edge on the right. If the bright edge is on the left, you have passed full Moon and landed on a waning Moon.
Questions people ask
How many days after new Moon is a waxing gibbous?
Roughly between 7.4 and 14.8 days, which are one quarter and one half of the average 29.5-day cycle. The Naval Observatory says each intermediate phase lasts about a week.
When does a waxing gibbous Moon rise and set?
NASA says it rises in the afternoon, before sunset, and sets in the early hours of the morning, before sunrise. Treat that as a guide for most latitudes and check local predictions for exact times.
Is a waxing gibbous Moon good for seeing craters?
Better than a full Moon. NASA's tips say phases other than full show more pronounced shadows, which help you pick out craters and mountains, especially along the terminator.
Is a waxing gibbous Moon the same everywhere on Earth?
The phase is the same, but the view is not. NASA says people north and south of the equator see the same phase from different angles, and the Moon looks upside down if you travel to the other hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere the lit side of a waxing Moon is on the right.
Sources
- Moon Phases, NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moon-phases/. 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.
- What Are the Moon’s Phases?, NASA Space Place. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/moon-phases/en/. Opened November 9, 2026.
- Moon Phase and Libration, 2026, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5587/. Opened November 9, 2026.
- Moon Viewing Tips, NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/moon/viewing-tips/. Opened November 9, 2026.
- Frequency of Tides - The Lunar Day, NOAA National Ocean Service Education. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_tides/tides05_lunarday.html. Opened November 9, 2026.
- Weird Science: Phases of the Moon, Exploring Our Fluid Earth, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Curriculum Research & Development Group). https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/tides/tide-formation-gravitational-pull/weird-science-phases-moon. Opened November 9, 2026.
- Top Moon Questions, NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/moon/top-moon-questions/. 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.
Read next
Unlock this guide
Play one round for this entry to unlock the full guide, or unlock it now without playing. The choice is saved in this browser only.