Moon Phase Today
Computed in your browser for this moment, with moonrise and moonset for your location.
Computing…
New York · 40.71°, -74.01° · times in America/New York
This lunar month, day by day
What moon were you born under?
Why the Moon has phases
What you see from Earth
Drag the Moon round its orbit (or focus it and use the arrow keys). The Sun always lights the half facing left; the phase is how much of that lit half faces Earth. The moonrise time is a rule of thumb: the Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, so a first-quarter Moon rises near noon and a full Moon near sunset.
The eight phases
Astronomers time four instants: new moon (Moon between Earth and Sun, 0% lit), first quarter (90° east of the Sun, right half lit from the Northern Hemisphere), full moon (opposite the Sun) and last quarter (left half lit). The spans between are the waxing crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous and waning crescent. A full cycle, the synodic month, averages 29.53 days but varies by several hours because the Moon’s orbit is elliptical.
“Quarter” refers to a quarter of the way through the cycle, not to how much is lit: at first quarter you see half of the disc.
Moon phase questions
What is the moon phase today?
The phase shown at the top of this page is calculated in your browser for the current moment from the Moon’s position relative to the Sun, so it is always up to date.
Is the moon phase the same everywhere on Earth?
Yes, the phase and percentage lit are the same for everyone at a given instant. What changes is orientation (in the Southern Hemisphere the lit side appears mirrored) and the local date and time of rise and set.
How long does each moon phase last?
New, first quarter, full and last quarter are instants. The in-between phases (crescent and gibbous) each last about 7.4 days. People usually call the Moon “full” for about a day either side of the exact moment.
Why does the Moon rise later every day?
The Moon moves about 12–13° east along its orbit each day, so Earth has to turn a little further, on average about 50 minutes, before the Moon comes back over the horizon.
What moon was I born under?
Enter your birth date in the birthday moon tool on this page. It calculates the phase at 9 pm on that date in your current time zone.