Waxing Crescent

First Quarter

As the Moon moves eastward away from the Sun, we see a bit more of the sunlit side of the Moon each night. The lighted area increases over time from right to left from our perspective on Earth. A few days after new moon, we see a thin crescent in the western evening sky.  The crescent Moon waxes, or appears to grow fatter, each night. When the right half of the Moon's disc is illuminated, we call it the first quarter moon. This name comes from the fact that the moon is now one-quarter of the way through the lunar month.  From Earth, we are now looking at the sunlit side of the Moon from off to the side.