Tool
What is the moon phase today?
The current phase and illumination, with the dates of the next full and new moon.
How the moon phase works
The moon does not make its own light — we see the half the Sun happens to be lighting. As the moon orbits Earth roughly every 29.5 days, the angle between Sun, Earth and moon changes, so the slice of the lit half we can see grows and shrinks. That cycle is the phases: from a dark new moon, out through a thickening crescent to the fully lit full moon, then back again. The disc above shows the currently illuminated fraction, lit on the right while waxing and on the left while waning — the Northern Hemisphere view. For the exact time anywhere on Earth, see UTC time now.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the moon phase today?
- This page reads your device clock and shows the current phase, the illuminated fraction of the disc, and the dates of the next full and new moon. The phase is essentially the same everywhere on Earth at a given instant, so it needs no location — only moonrise and moonset times depend on where you are.
- How long is the full moon cycle?
- One full cycle from new moon to new moon — a lunation — averages 29.53 days. That is why the phase drifts about a day earlier each month relative to the calendar, and why full moons fall on different dates each year.
- What do waxing and waning mean?
- Waxing means the lit portion is growing, from new moon toward full; waning means it is shrinking, from full back toward new. In the Northern Hemisphere a waxing moon is lit on the right; in the Southern Hemisphere the sides are mirrored.
- What are the eight moon phases?
- New moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last (third) quarter, and waning crescent. The four "quarter" and "new/full" points are precise instants; the crescent and gibbous names cover the stretches in between.