How Easy It Is to Remember All Eight Phases of the Moon
What most people know about the Moon is that it revolves around the Earth, and it may or may not have a giant face carved into it. But the luminescent ball contains a variety of objects that might interest non-professionals, and understanding its phases is a good place to start. Memorizing a simple mnemonic device can help you in your quest to become an amateur Galileo, or at least impress a friend or date.
First, a little about the phases of the moon.
The only reason we can see the moon is because the sun is the only source of light in our solar system. The moon enters phases depending on the orbit of the earth; when the moon is fully illuminated by the sun, we have a full moon.
After the full moon, the ball’s light begins to dim gradually as it recedes from Earth, until it returns to please us with its glory again (i.e., another full moon).
Throughout its 27-day cycle, the Moon is in eight different phases, accordingto NASA:
- New moon
- Growing sickle
- First quarter
- Waxing Crescent
- Full
- Waning moon
- Third quarter
- Waning moon
Since you will likely find it difficult to remember these terms without a little help, there is a useful abbreviation you can use to memorize the order of the moons. As the Star in Star website points out , you can memorize the order of the moons by the phrase “Never Stop Getting Food,” which, when read from the first letters of each word, represents New Moon, Crescent, Quarter, Moons, and Full (ie. e. NCQGF).
Of course, then the waning side of the moon comes into play, which requires you to reorder the letters – FGQCN – for full, radiant, quarter, crescent, and new .
Remember these three letters
The next mnemonic trick to remember depends on which hemisphere you live in, but for people in the Northern Hemisphere it is “DOC”. For the inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere, the device is inverted and becomes “cash on delivery.” There is really no standard scientific reason for this rule, as it is simply a product of the shape of the visible moon.
It all depends on which side the moon is illuminated from. Basically, if the right side of the moon is visible and the left side is still darkened, then you have a “D” shape that indicates the growing crescent and first quarter.
The full “O” represents the growing pocket and the full moon, and the letter “C” represents the waning moon, third quarter or waning crescent, the last of which is most similar to the letter “C”.
Of course, the opposite is true when you look at the Moon from the Southern Hemisphere. As EarthSky explains , “Observers in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres see the moon clearly upside-down in relation to each other.”
Understanding the giant moon is the key to success
The moon-moon appears on either side of the invisible new moon, which means either a growing “D” or a waning letter “C” in the mnemonic device.
The Sciencing website goes into detail on how this works, and how it can be instructive in understanding how the Moon works in general:
The giant moon is an almost full moon with a crescent of darkness covering one side of the moon. The lighter part of the moon is slightly ovoid, and the moon is on either side of the full moon.
Basically, the phases of the moon occur throughout the month, and you can track the cycle by following the tabs on your DOC device. This way, you can gaze up at the stars and tell your friends that the full moon is approaching and convince them that you are a cosmological sage.