Moon Phase Today

Use the live moon phase calculator at the top of this page to see today's exact phase, illumination percentage, moonrise and moonset times for your location, and the number of days until the next Full Moon. The Moon completes its full 29.5-day cycle continuously — the calculator updates in real time for any date you select.

There are 8 moon phases in a standard 29.5-day lunar cycle: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent. The four primary phases — New, First Quarter, Full, and Last Quarter — each mark a precise moment in time when the Moon reaches an exact angle relative to the Sun. The four secondary phases are the transitional periods between them.

The First and Last Quarter phases offer the best telescope views of the Moon. At these phases, the Sun sits at a low angle over the lunar terrain, and the terminator line — the boundary between lunar day and night — casts long shadows across the surface. Crater rims, mountain ridges, and ancient lava plains all gain dramatic three-dimensional depth that disappears completely at Full Moon, when overhead illumination flattens everything out.

The Full Moon is actually the worst phase for telescope observers — not the best. With no shadows to reveal surface texture, even major craters look shallow and washed out. The one exception is the bright ray systems radiating from young impact craters like Tycho and Copernicus, which become most visible near full illumination.

It depends on what you want to observe. For deep-sky stargazing — nebulae, galaxies, and faint star clusters — the New Moon is ideal, as there is no moonlight to wash out the sky. For lunar observation with a telescope, the opposite is true: target the nights around First or Last Quarter, when the terminator line creates maximum shadow contrast across craters and mountain ranges.

A common mistake is pointing a telescope at the Full Moon and expecting dramatic views — the fully lit surface loses almost all shadow detail, making the Moon look flat and featureless through an eyepiece. The Moon rewards observers most in the days just before and after each Quarter phase.

A supermoon occurs when a Full Moon or New Moon coincides with the Moon being near its closest point to Earth (perigee) in its slightly elliptical orbit. At perigee, the Moon is approximately 356,000 km away — about 14% closer than at apogee (406,000 km). This makes the Full Moon appear up to 14% larger and up to 30% brighter than a typical Full Moon, depending on how brightness is measured. Supermoons happen roughly 3 to 4 times per year, as the lunar orbit and phase cycle gradually drift in and out of alignment.

A blood moon is a Full Moon during a total lunar eclipse. When Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, Earth's shadow falls on the Moon completely. Instead of going dark, the Moon turns a deep red or orange colour — caused by sunlight refracting through Earth's atmosphere around the edges of the planet. Every sunrise and sunset happening simultaneously on Earth projects onto the Moon's surface, producing the red glow. Total lunar eclipses occur roughly twice per year globally, though they are not visible from all locations each time.

Yes — directly. The Moon's gravitational pull creates a tidal bulge on the side of Earth facing it. Spring tides — the highest and lowest tides — occur at New Moon and Full Moon, when the Sun and Moon align and their gravitational forces combine. Neap tides — the mildest tides — occur at First and Last Quarter, when the Sun and Moon are at right angles and partially cancel each other's pull. Coastal tide predictions depend heavily on the current moon phase and the Moon's distance from Earth.

There are two different answers depending on what you measure. The sidereal month — one complete orbit relative to the fixed stars — takes 27.3 days. The synodic month — the time to complete a full phase cycle from New Moon back to New Moon — takes 29.5 days. The difference exists because Earth itself moves around the Sun during that time. By the time the Moon completes one orbit, Earth has advanced far enough along its own orbit that the Moon must travel an extra two days to realign with the Sun-Earth geometry and return to the same phase.

The Moon does not physically change shape — it is always a sphere. What changes is how much of the sunlit half is visible from Earth as the Moon orbits. At New Moon, the lit side faces entirely away from us. As the Moon moves around Earth, progressively more of the sunlit surface becomes visible until we see the fully illuminated Full Moon. The cycle then reverses. The Moon's own light is zero — it is entirely reflected sunlight. The shadow you see is Earth blocking that light from reaching the Moon's surface.

Our calculations use SunCalc open-source astronomical algorithms based on the methods of Jean Meeus, whose Astronomical Algorithms is the accepted reference standard in the field. Results are cross-verified against NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Horizons system for precision. The calculator delivers sub-minute accuracy for moonrise, moonset, illumination percentage, and lunar age — continuously updated for any date and any location worldwide.