MOON PHASE TODAY
What phase is the moon tonight, how much of it is lit, and — the part most trackers bury — what day does the next full moon actually fall on? This free tool shows today's phase, illumination and moon age, then gives you the weekday and date of the next full moon and new moon so you can put them on a calendar. Pick any other date to look forward or back.
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Phases are computed from the Moon's position relative to the Sun using a truncated lunar theory. Checked against published new and full moon times, this page lands within a few minutes. Note that a phase happens at one instant worldwide — the clock time shown is your local time, so a full moon late at night on the U.S. West Coast is already the next calendar day in Europe.
🌙 Reading the Moon
1️⃣ The Phase Is One Instant — the Look Lasts Days
"Full moon" is a precise moment: the instant the Moon sits opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. But to the eye it looks full for roughly three nights, because the illuminated fraction stays above 98% for about a day and a half either side. That's why the card above gives you both the exact moment and the calendar day it lands on — if you're planning to be outside for it, the day is what you need.
🔄 Waxing Grows, Waning Shrinks
A waxing moon is filling toward full; a waning moon is emptying toward new. From the northern hemisphere there's a simple trick: if the lit edge is on the right, it's waxing; on the left, waning. South of the equator it's reversed. "Crescent" means less than half lit, "gibbous" means more than half — so a waxing gibbous is on its way to full, and a waning gibbous has just passed it.
📆 Why the Lunar Month Doesn't Fit the Calendar
One full cycle from new moon to new moon — the synodic month — averages 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. Every calendar month except February is longer than that, which is why full moons drift about a day earlier each month and why some months get two of them. That drift is also why a purely lunar calendar, like the Islamic one, moves through the seasons rather than tracking them.
🌗 The Moon Is Up in the Daytime Too
A common surprise: the Moon is above the horizon for roughly twelve hours out of every twenty-four, regardless of phase — it's just harder to notice against a bright sky. A first-quarter moon rises around noon and sets around midnight, so the best time to see it is late afternoon. A full moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, which is why it's the only phase visible all night long. Our sunrise and sunset calculator gives you those anchor times for your own location.
🏷️ Supermoons, Blue Moons and Harvest Moons
A supermoon is a full moon near the closest point of the Moon's slightly elliptical orbit — it looks about 7% wider than average, which is real but hard to notice without a side-by-side photo. A blue moon is usually defined as the second full moon in a calendar month, an artefact of the mismatch described above rather than an astronomical event. The harvest moon is the full moon nearest the September equinox, and it earned its name because it rises unusually soon after sunset for several nights running, extending working light into the evening.
🗓️ Putting a Moon on Your Calendar
Photographers, campers, anglers and stargazers all plan around the Moon — a full moon washes out the Milky Way, and a new moon is the darkest sky you'll get. Once you have the date above, the countdown timer counts down to it, the business day calculator tells you whether it lands on a working day, and you can set a free reminder that syncs to your own calendar.