First Quarter Moon Emoji
U+1F313:first_quarter_moon:About First Quarter Moon 🌓
First Quarter Moon () is part of the Travel & Places group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E0.6. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.
Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode.
Often associated with first, moon, quarter, and 1 more keywords.
Meaning varies across cultures, see cultural notes below.
Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.
How it looks
What does it mean?
🌓 is the first quarter moon: exactly 50% illuminated on the right side, 50% dark on the left. Third of the eight astronomical phase emojis. It happens roughly 7 days after the new moon, when the moon has completed one quarter of its 29.5-day synodic cycle.
The name is the most misleading in all of astronomy. 🌓 looks half-full, but it's called 'first quarter' because the moon has traveled one-quarter of the way through its orbit, not because 25% of the disc is lit. Half the people who use this emoji call it 'half moon' and they are astronomically wrong but emotionally right.
Approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as FIRST QUARTER MOON SYMBOL. The face version is 🌛, same phase but with a profile. 🌓 is the clinical, no-face version; 🌛 is the storybook version.
In astrology, the first quarter is the 'crisis of action' phase. You set your intentions at the new moon, they sprouted during the waxing crescent, and now they're meeting resistance. Will you commit or fold? That's the energy astrologers tie to 🌓.
🌓 shows up in three main contexts. First, astronomy: it's the best phase for amateur telescope viewing because the terminator line) creates long shadows that throw lunar craters, mountains, and valleys into sharp relief. Full moons look flat; first quarter moons look three-dimensional. Second, astrology: the 'push through' week after the waxing crescent. Third, symbolism: the 50/50 split makes 🌓 a stand-in for duality, balance, yin-yang, or any 'both sides of X' idea.
It's used a lot less than 🌙 or 🌚, but it shows up reliably in lunar-cycle-tracking content, manifestation Instagram, and amateur astronomy Twitter.
When people post 🌓
The Complete Lunar Cycle
| Illumination | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| 🌑 New Moon | 0% | Invisible. New beginnings, intentions, void. |
| 🌒 Waxing Crescent | 1-49% | First sliver. Growth starting, hope emerging. |
| 🌓 First Quarter | 50% | Half lit (right). Decision point, action. |
| 🌔 Waxing Gibbous | 51-99% | Almost full. Refinement, patience. |
| 🌕 Full Moon | 100% | Fully lit. Completion, intensity, werewolves. |
| 🌖 Waning Gibbous | 99-51% | Starting to shrink. Gratitude, sharing. |
| 🌗 Last Quarter | 50% | Half lit (left). Release, forgiveness. |
| 🌘 Waning Crescent | 49-1% | Final sliver. Rest, surrender, closure. |
Emoji combos
Origin story
The first quarter is easy to spot in the sky. It's visible starting around noon, peaks overhead at sunset, and sets around midnight. It's also the easiest phase to confuse with the last quarter (🌗), since both look like half moons, just lit on opposite sides.
The 'first quarter' naming comes from old Latin astronomical terminology. 'Quarter' refers to the moon having completed 25% of its orbital journey from one new moon to the next. At that point, the sun-earth-moon geometry positions the moon 90 degrees from the sun as viewed from Earth, so exactly half the side facing us catches sunlight.
Amateur astronomers treasure this phase. When the full moon is at its brightest, its shadowless surface looks flat. During the first quarter, shadows along the terminator (the day-night boundary on the moon) stretch across craters and mountain ranges, revealing depth and structure. Most classic photos of lunar surface detail are taken at first or last quarter, not full moon.
In astrological tradition, the first quarter is the 'crisis of action.' Rituals at this phase focus on overcoming obstacles and committing to a chosen path rather than planting new seeds.
Approved in Unicode 6.0 (October 2010) as FIRST QUARTER MOON SYMBOL. The 'SYMBOL' suffix in the Unicode name distinguishes it from the face version 🌛. Both represent the same real-world phase.
Around the world
Western astrology
The first quarter is the 'crisis of action' week. Manifestation communities post ritual prompts about commitment, pushing through resistance, and refusing to backslide on new-moon intentions.
East Asian philosophy
The half-lit visual lends itself to yin-yang symbolism. Chinese social media users occasionally pair 🌓 with 阴阳 (yin-yang) posts or 半 (half) captions about duality.
Amateur astronomy (global)
The observation community treats the first quarter as the premier viewing phase. Star parties and telescope workshops are scheduled around this window to maximize crater visibility.
The 'crisis of action' phase. About a week after the new moon's intention-setting, your goals face their first real obstacle. The first quarter is considered a make-or-break moment: commit or fold.
Often confused with
Mirror image. 🌓 (first quarter) is lit on the right. 🌗 (last quarter) is lit on the left. Same 50% illumination, opposite halves. Waxing vs waning.
Mirror image. 🌓 (first quarter) is lit on the right. 🌗 (last quarter) is lit on the left. Same 50% illumination, opposite halves. Waxing vs waning.
Same phase, different treatment. 🌛 adds a profile face. 🌓 stays clinical. Use 🌛 for bedtime/storybook, 🌓 for astronomy.
Same phase, different treatment. 🌛 adds a profile face. 🌓 stays clinical. Use 🌛 for bedtime/storybook, 🌓 for astronomy.
Yin and yang symbol. Totally different emoji, but shares the half-lit half-dark visual pull. Sometimes used together when someone wants to stack 'balance' imagery.
Yin and yang symbol. Totally different emoji, but shares the half-lit half-dark visual pull. Sometimes used together when someone wants to stack 'balance' imagery.
🌓 (first quarter) is lit on the right side and represents the waxing (growing) half of the cycle. 🌗 (last quarter) is lit on the left side and represents the waning (shrinking) half. Same 50% illumination, opposite halves, opposite meaning.
Both show the first quarter phase. 🌓 is a plain astronomy symbol. 🌛 adds a profile face, which makes it read as storybook or bedtime-themed. Use 🌓 for lunar-cycle content, 🌛 for gentle children's or fairy-tale content.
Caption ideas
Fun facts
- •The first quarter is the best phase for amateur telescope viewing. Shadows along the terminator line throw craters, mountains, and rills into sharp relief. Full moons look flat by comparison because they have no shadows.
- •'First quarter' refers to the moon's orbital position (25% complete), not its illumination (which is 50%). It's the single most confusing naming convention in basic astronomy.
- •In astrology, the first quarter is called the 'crisis of action'. The intentions you set at the new moon are now meeting their first real obstacle. It's a make-or-break phase.
- •A first-quarter moon rises around noon and sets around midnight. It's the most convenient phase to watch because it's up during normal evening hours.
- •Galileo's 1610 sketches of the moon, published in Sidereus Nuncius, were made at first and last quarter so craters would cast visible shadows. The shadows let him prove the moon was not a smooth sphere, which upended two thousand years of Aristotelian physics.
- •At first quarter, the sun-earth-moon angle is exactly 90 degrees. This is also when tidal forces from the sun and moon partially cancel each other, producing the weakest tides of the month, called neap tides.
Trivia
For developers
- •🌓 is . UTF-8: . HTML entity: .
- •Shortcodes: (Slack, Discord, GitHub).
- •Unicode name: FIRST QUARTER MOON SYMBOL. The 'SYMBOL' suffix distinguishes it from the face variant 🌛 (FIRST QUARTER MOON WITH FACE).
The 'quarter' refers to the moon's orbital position (25% complete), not to illumination. The moon has traveled one-quarter of the way through its cycle. At that point the sun-earth-moon geometry lights exactly 50% of the visible disc. It's the single most confusing naming in basic astronomy.
First or last quarter. The terminator line (day-night boundary on the moon) casts long shadows on craters and mountains, making surface detail stand out. Full moons look shadowless and flat through any telescope.
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
When do you use 🌓?
Select all that apply
Related Emojis
More Travel & Places
Share this emoji
2,000+ emojis deeply researched. One click to copy. No ads.
Open eeemoji →