Waxing gibbous Moon: next date, how it looks and how long it lasts
The next waxing gibbous Moon starts and ends . It lasts 3 days 13 hours this cycle, with the Moon growing from 69% to 96% lit.
The cycle
Where the waxing gibbous Moon sits in the cycle
- New Moon
- Waxing crescent
- First quarter
- Waxing gibbousNext: , then
- Full Moon
- Waning gibbous
- Last quarter
- Waning crescent
What a waxing gibbous is
- Angle east of the Sun
- 112.5° to 157.5°
- Share lit
- 69% to 96%
- Moon age
- 9.2 to 12.9 days after new Moon
- Trend
- Growing each night
Gibbous means more than half lit but not yet full, from a Latin word for a hump. Waxing means the lit area is still growing, so this is the last run-up to full Moon, with the shadowed part shrinking toward a thin bite.
By now the Moon has gone well past the quarter point of its orbit and is closing in on the side of Earth opposite the Sun. The Sun-Moon angle is more than 110 degrees and heading for 180, where full Moon happens.
How a waxing gibbous looks
A fat, slightly lopsided disc, bright almost everywhere, with a curved dark bite along the left edge in the Northern Hemisphere. The line between light and dark bulges toward the dark side and flattens night by night as the bite thins out.
The Moon is bright enough now to wash out faint stars around it. Brightness climbs faster than the lit area does: a half Moon gives only about a tenth of the light of a full one.
What to look for. Look for the pale rays spreading from the crater Tycho in the southern highlands; they stand out as the Sun climbs higher over that part of the surface.
Northern Hemisphere
The dark bite is on the left edge.
Start: 69% lit
Middle: 85% lit
End: 96% lit
Southern Hemisphere
The dark bite is on the right edge.
Start: 69% lit
Middle: 85% lit
End: 96% lit
The Moon at the start, the middle and the end of this phase; the Southern Hemisphere sees each disc upside down.
Good to know
- Photographers favor the evenings just before full Moon, when the Moon rises while there is still daylight left on the landscape.
- Moon age here runs from about 9 to 13 days, so full Moon is only a few nights off.
When a waxing gibbous is up
A waxing gibbous Moon rises in the afternoon, well before sunset, and you can often see it hanging in the eastern sky while it is still light. It is high through the evening and sets after midnight, sometimes not until the small hours.
It is the Moon of the first half of the night. Anyone after faint stars or meteors does better to wait until it sets, or to pick the week around new Moon instead.
At a 6 am sunrise and 6 pm sunset, a waxing gibbous Moon usually:
- Rises around
- 2 pm to 5 pm
- Is highest around
- 8 pm to 11 pm
- Sets around
- 2 am to 5 am
The season and your latitude can move these times by an hour or two. For your own moonrise and moonset, open the moonrise and moonset page.
How long a waxing gibbous lasts
- Average length
- 3.69 days, an eighth of the cycle
- Next one
- 3 days 13 hours
- Shortest of the six
- 3 days 7 hours
- Longest of the six
- 3 days 13 hours
The window closes when the Moon is about 22 degrees short of full. Its length swings with the Moon's speed: at the closest point of the orbit the 45 degrees go by in a little over three days, and at the farthest point they take more than four.
The next six, in your time zone
| Starts | Ends | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| 3 days 13 hours | ||
| 3 days 9 hours | ||
| 3 days 7 hours | ||
| 3 days 7 hours | ||
| 3 days 9 hours | ||
| 3 days 11 hours |
Questions people ask
Quick answers
What is a waxing gibbous Moon?
The Moon is in this phase while the angle between the Sun and the Moon runs from 112.5° to 157.5°. The share of the disc that is lit runs 69% to 96%.
How long does the waxing gibbous Moon last?
The next one lasts 3 days 13 hours. Over the cycle the six non-principal phases last between about 3.4 and 4 days each.
When is the next waxing gibbous Moon?
The start and end dates are at the top of this page and in the table of the next six, in your time zone.
Does the waxing gibbous Moon look different in the Southern Hemisphere?
Yes. The same phase is the other way round: the lit side that is on the right in the north shows on the left in the south.
Can I see the waxing gibbous Moon in daylight?
Often, because every phase except the new Moon spends some of its time above the horizon in the day. It is easiest to spot when it stands high in a clear sky.