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Waxing gibbous moon
The image shows Earth’s Moon in a waxing gibbous phase, between first quarter and full. More than half of the disk is sunlit, relief is most pronounced along the terminator, where low-angle light highlights craters and mountains. Bright anorthositic highlands (light-colored igneous plutonic rock) contrast with basaltic maria (dark lowlands of the moon - remnants of ancient volcanic flooding). This phase precedes the full moon as the Moon moves toward opposition.
Waxing gibbous moon
The image shows Earth’s Moon in a waxing gibbous phase, between first quarter and full. More than half of the disk is sunlit, relief is most pronounced along the terminator, where low-angle light highlights craters and mountains. Bright anorthositic highlands (light-colored igneous plutonic rock) contrast with basaltic maria (dark lowlands of the moon - remnants of ancient volcanic flooding). This phase precedes the full moon as the Moon moves toward opposition.