The Moon in the Morning Sky

Waning Moon

I enjoy the waning phases of the Moon, seeing it out my kitchen window as the light of dawn fills the eastern horizon and the shiny Moon offers itself in a gradually-decreasing shape each morning. Today at Last Quarter phase, the half-lit Moon was distinctive and dominant from the first light of dawn until the Sun had risen. But each day as the remaining disk of the Moon diminishes and the location moves farther east and nearer to the sunrise, the Moon will become harder to find in the glare of the first light of the day. It's a fitting end of the cycle for this amazing orb that brings such drama and intrigue to the night sky, from the blood moon a week ago to the amazing solar eclipses that arise from time to time.

Look east for the final phases of the waning Moon later this week. It will make a lovely pass by the brilliant planet Venus on the 25th and 26th.

Image courtesy of Sky & Telescope.