What phase of the moon comes before a new moon?

• A. Waxing Crescent
• B. Full Moon
• C. New Moon
• D. Waning Crescent

Answer: (D)

Understanding how the Moon’s visible shape changes over roughly a month helps explain which phase comes just before the new moon. The word waning means decreasing, and crescent refers to a thin, curved sliver of illumination. After the Full Moon the lit portion we see shrinks through phases like Waning Gibbous and Last Quarter, then becomes a tiny crescent as it approaches invisibility. That final slender crescent is the Waning Crescent, which occurs right before the new moon when the Moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun and most of its sunlit side is turned away from us. Waxing Crescent happens after the new moon, not before, and the Full Moon is much earlier in the cycle, so they don’t come immediately before the new moon.