JimNotJon

By JimNotJon

Waning Gibbous Moon

In the few days after the full moon, you'll often see a waning gibbous moon (the word "waning" means decreasing in size, referring to the illuminated portion, and "gibbous" means that more than half of the surface is illuminated) sailing over the eastern horizon in the hours between sunset and midnight. The moon is past full now, and once again it appears less than full but more than half lighted. It often looks a misshapen clone of a full moon.
Early clear mornings you will sometimes see that the moon is still out against the pale blue sky, as it hasn't set yet, and usually does shortly after sunrise. This often sparks people questioning where the moon was the previous night as they couldn't find it, but for the moon to set late (in the morning), it first must have risen late, usually after people have gone to bed.

I couldn't sleep right away last night and noticed the moon starting to light my bedroom, which prompted me to take a photo for today, even though it was only just the 3rd of Jan.

Was anyone lucky enough to see or even capture the Quadrantid meteor shower before dawn this morning?

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