from the north and south
That's true at the moments of First Quarter and Third Quarter phases.
This is either a "First Quarter" or a "Third Quarter" Moon.
The three phases of the moon are new moon, first quarter, and full moon. New moon is when the moon is not visible from Earth, first quarter is when half of the moon is visible, and full moon is when the entire face of the moon is illuminated.
The quarter moon, which can refer to either the first or third quarter, occurs about a week after the new moon and a week before the full moon in the lunar cycle. During the first quarter, half of the moon's surface is illuminated and visible from Earth, typically appearing in the evening sky. Conversely, the third quarter moon also shows half of its illuminated surface but is visible in the late night to early morning hours.
It sounds like the moon is currently waxing gibbous, with more than a quarter but less than half of the moon visible. As it progresses towards the third quarter phase, the visible portion will continue to decrease until only half of the moon is visible.
Oh, my friend, let's just imagine this beautiful journey together! From a third quarter moon to a first quarter moon, we move slowly as the bright shining light grows more and more each night. It's a gentle dance between darkness and light, filling the sky with such wonder and magic. Just like painting a stunning landscape, each phase in this cycle is simply exquisite!
A waning cresent.
The moon phase you are describing is the waning gibbous phase. This occurs after the full moon and before the third quarter moon when the illuminated portion of the moon is decreasing.
The amount of the lighted side of the moon you can see is the same during the first quarter and the last quarter phases. In both phases, half of the moon's illuminated side is visible from Earth.
During the first and third quarter moon phases, the moon is at a 90-degree angle with the sun as seen from Earth. This results in half of the moon's visible surface being illuminated by sunlight, creating a half-moon shape. The first quarter moon rises at noon and sets at midnight, while the third quarter moon rises at midnight and sets at noon.
the cicle is new moon, waxing crescent,first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter, waning cresent,then new moon again and so on so a first quarter moon is when you can't seehalf the moon.
The phase of the moon that occurs between the third quarter and the new moon is the waning crescent. During this phase, the illuminated part of the moon visible from Earth decreases until it eventually becomes a new moon with no visible illumination.