This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The Waning Crescent on February 10 has an illumination of 38%. Visit the February 1980 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month. Along the edge where the illuminated portion meets the dark side, the craters and mountains cast long shadows making them easier to observe with a telescope or binoculars. It can also be a great time to see the features of the Moon's surface. During this part of the Moon cycle, the Moon is getting closer to the Sun as viewed from Earth and the night side of the Moon is facing the Earth with only a small edge of the Moon being illuminated. In this phase the Moon’s illumination is growing smaller each day until the New Moon.
This phase is best viewed just before the sunrise in the western sky. On this day the Moon was in a Waning Crescent phase.
