The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight, May 13th, is a Waxing Crescent Phase. A Waxing Crescent is the first Phase after the New Moon and is a great time to see the features of the moon’s surface.
During this phase, the Moon can be seen in the western sky after the sun dips below the horizon at sunset. The moon is close to the sun in the sky and mostly dark except for the right edge of the moon which becomes brighter as the days get closer to the next moon phase, which is a First Quarter with a 50% illumination.
Today’s Waxing Crescent has an illumination of only 3% which is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. On May 13th, the Moon is 1.52 days old which refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all eight Moon phases.
