5 January 2025 Current Moon Phase for the Southern Hemisphere

The Moon phase for January 5th, 2025 is a Waxing Crescent phase. This is the phase where the moon started to become visible again after the New Moon.

In this part of the moon cycle, the Moon is moving away from the Sun and is becoming more and more illuminated by sunlight. In this phase, the moon will go from 0.1% to 49.9% illuminated before reaching the First Quarter phase.

In the Waxing Crescent phase the moon rises before noon in the east, transits the meridian before sunset, before setting in the west before midnight.

The Waxing Crescent phase, like all moon phases, will last for just over 7 days. The actual length will vary because of the elliptical shaped orbit of the moon. The moon is close to the Sun in the sky and the right edge will become brighter as it approaches 50% illumination and the First Quarter phase

Fun fact: although only a small part of the Moon is illuminated in the Waxing Crescent phase, you can still sometimes see the rest of moon as faintly visible. This is known as “earthshine” or Da Vinci glow and is a result of sunlight being reflected off the Earth and back to the Moon.