Tonight, Aug. 11 -- a bright, slightly lopsided disk that astronomers call the Waning Gibbous, and that most people simply notice is too bright to ignore.

On August 11, 2026, the moon is in the Waning Gibbous phase. It is approximately 88 to 92 percent illuminated, having crossed its peak fullness three to four days ago during the August Sturgeon Full Moon. The moon rises after sunset and sets in the mid-morning hours, making it visible for much of the overnight period and high in the sky well before midnight.

The term comes from the Latin "gibbus," meaning hump. A gibbous moon is one that is more than half illuminated but not fully round. "Waning" means the illuminated portion is shrinking, as the moon moves past full and toward the ne...