The snow moon shined brightly in the sky Sunday night. The snow moon is the full moon during the month of February. It’s called the snow moon, because of the large amount of snow that can fall during this time of year. The moon goes through eight different phases, including the new moon, waxing crescent, fist quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. According to NASA, the cycle repeats itself every 29.5 days.
Half of the moon is always illuminated by the sun, however, how much we see of the moon from earth, changes as the moon travels around the earth. A full moon occurs when we can see half of the moon, as it sits opposite from the sun. It’s the reverse with a new moon, as the illuminated side of the moon faces the sun.
The image above shows the different names for each of the full moons throughout the year. You can also find them in the Farmers Almanac.
