Moon Phases
The moon's phase, illumination, moonrise and moonset for any date and city, with the exact time of the next full and new moon.
The 8 Moon Phases Explained
The moon makes no light of its own. It reflects sunlight, and the phase you see depends on how much of its sunlit half faces Earth. As the moon orbits Earth over about 29.5 days, the angle between the moon, Earth and sun changes and shows a different share of that lit half.
The sequence is New Moon (0% lit), Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon (100%), Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Waning Crescent, and back to New Moon. "Waxing" means the lit part is growing and "waning" means it is shrinking. "Gibbous" means more than half the disc is lit. The two "quarter" phases are named for the quarter of the orbit completed, not for the lit area: at both, half of the disc you see is lit (about 50%).
From the Northern Hemisphere the lit edge of a waxing moon is on the right and a waning moon on the left. From the Southern Hemisphere it is the other way round. The phase is identical, only the orientation differs.
Moon Phases and Time Zones
A full moon or new moon is a single instant, but the calendar date of that instant depends on the time zone. A full moon at 23:30 UTC on Monday is still Monday in New York and already Tuesday in Berlin. That is why two moon calendars can list the same event on different days.
Moonrise and moonset are local events. A full moon rises around sunset and sets around sunrise, and from then on the moon rises about 50 minutes later each night on average. Around the September equinox in the Northern Hemisphere that delay shrinks to much less, so the full moon of that time of year (the Harvest Moon) rises at nearly the same hour for several evenings in a row.
The tool calculates moonrise and moonset for one representative city in the time zone you choose (shown under the phase) and lists them for that city's calendar day. To convert a time to another zone, use the Time Zone Converter.
New and Full Moons in 2026
Times are in UTC (24-hour), generated by the same calculation as the tool above. There are 13 full moons in 2026, and two of them fall in May (May 1 and May 31). Convert to your own time zone with the selector above.
| Month | New moon (UTC) | Full moon (UTC) |
|---|---|---|
| January | Jan 18, 19:53 | Jan 3, 10:04 |
| February | Feb 17, 12:02 | Feb 1, 22:10 |
| March | Mar 19, 01:25 | Mar 3, 11:39 |
| April | Apr 17, 11:53 | Apr 2, 02:13 |
| May | May 16, 20:02 | May 1, 17:24 and May 31, 08:46 |
| June | Jun 15, 02:55 | Jun 29, 23:57 |
| July | Jul 14, 09:44 | Jul 29, 14:36 |
| August | Aug 12, 17:37 | Aug 28, 04:19 |
| September | Sep 11, 03:27 | Sep 26, 16:49 |
| October | Oct 10, 15:50 | Oct 26, 04:12 |
| November | Nov 9, 07:02 | Nov 24, 14:54 |
| December | Dec 9, 00:52 | Dec 24, 01:29 |
Moon Illumination and Night Visibility
The phase changes how dark a night is. A full moon under a clear sky is commonly cited at roughly 0.1 to 0.3 lux, against near-total darkness around a new moon. That is enough to matter for astronomy (a bright moon washes out faint stars and deep-sky objects), wildlife watching, night photography and navigation on foot.
Some traditions plan around the lunar cycle. Biodynamic and traditional farming calendars time planting to the waxing or waning moon, and the "Solunar" theory popularised in the 1920s holds that fish feed more around the full and new moon. Neither has been firmly established by scientific evidence, so treat them as folklore rather than guidance. If you are planning around moonrise at a destination, compare it with the local time on the World Clock.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 8 moon phases?
In order: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter and Waning Crescent. One full cycle, from new moon to new moon, takes about 29.5 days.
How are the moon phase times calculated?
The moments of new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter come from the standard series in Jean Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms, which models the moon's orbit and agrees with published almanacs to within a few minutes. The illumination percentage and moonrise and moonset times come from the suncalc astronomy library. The 29.53-day figure is only an average: the real gap between two full moons varies by up to about half a day.
Does the moon phase depend on your location?
The phase itself is the same everywhere on Earth at the same moment. What changes with location is when the moon rises and sets, how high it climbs, and which way up the crescent appears: the lit edge is on the right of a waxing crescent in the Northern Hemisphere and on the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
When is the next full moon?
The tool shows the exact moment of the next full moon in the time zone you select. Because a full moon is an instant rather than a whole day, the calendar date can differ by one day between time zones. For example, the November 2026 full moon is at 14:54 UTC on November 24, which is already November 25 in Auckland but still November 24 in Los Angeles.
Where does the data come from, and how accurate is it?
Everything is calculated in your browser from astronomical formulas, not fetched from a live feed. Phase moments are accurate to a few minutes. Moonrise and moonset assume a clear sky and standard atmospheric refraction and are calculated for one representative city in the time zone you pick, so places elsewhere in the same zone see them earlier or later. Treat them as planning times, not as survey-grade almanac values.
What is a supermoon?
A supermoon is a full or new moon that happens near the moon's closest point to Earth (perigee). NASA describes a supermoon full moon as up to about 14% larger and 30% brighter than the smallest full moon. How close counts as "super" is a convention rather than a fixed rule, so the number per year depends on the definition, but it is usually a few.