The Moon
What Phase is the Moon in?
Today the Moon is Waxing Gibbous and its age is 10.57 days.
Current Moon Sky Map
The Moon Position
The Moon is currently in the constellation of Cancer. The current Right Ascension is 09h 49m 41s and the Declination is +17° 17’ 25”.
Simplified sky chart showing where The Moon is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see full screen Online Planetarium)
Also check out Where is The Moon?, a page that provides all the information needed to find The Moon in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
The Moon Distance
The distance of The Moon from Earth is currently 366,403 kilometers, equivalent to 0.002449 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1.2222 seconds to travel from The Moon and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of The Moon from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.
The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth.
Closest approach of The Moon to Earth
Between January 2013 and December 2100 the closest approach of The Moon to Earth happens on Sun Nov 26 2034 at a distance of 0.00238273 Astronomical Units, or 356,452 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
The Moon brightness
The current visual magnitude of The Moon is -11.46.
The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of The Moon, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.
The Moon rise and set times
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's The Moon rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of The Moon touches the horizon, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.
The Moon Physical Data
The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of The Moon. Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Physical Parameter | Value | Relative to Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | 3474.2 km | 0.2727 |
| Mass | 0.07342 x 1024 kg | 0.0123 |
| Density | 3.344 gr/cm3 | 0.6065 |
| Escape Velocity | 2.38 km/s | 0.2127 |
| Sideral Rotation | 655.7199 hours | 27.3965 |
| Absolute Magnitude | -12.6 | |
| Geometric Albedo | 0.136 |
The Moon 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of The Moon computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate The Moon in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Mar 28 | 03h 01m 41s | +13° 24’ 51” | -7.42 | 1,779.2” | Aries |
| 2020 Mar 29 | 03h 49m 14s | +17° 11’ 25” | -8.16 | 1,791.8” | Taurus |
| 2020 Mar 30 | 04h 39m 16s | +20° 17’ 09” | -8.81 | 1,808.5” | Taurus |
| 2020 Mar 31 | 05h 32m 03s | +22° 29’ 52” | -9.39 | 1,829.3” | Taurus |
| 2020 Apr 01 | 06h 27m 24s | +23° 37’ 27” | -9.91 | 1,854.0” | Gemini |
| 2020 Apr 02 | 07h 24m 46s | +23° 29’ 36” | -10.40 | 1,882.0” | Gemini |
| 2020 Apr 03 | 08h 23m 14s | +21° 59’ 58” | -10.85 | 1,911.9” | Cancer |
| 2020 Apr 04 | 09h 21m 52s | +19° 08’ 11” | -11.27 | 1,942.0” | Cancer |
| 2020 Apr 05 | 10h 19m 54s | +15° 00’ 59” | -11.67 | 1,969.4” | Leo |
| 2020 Apr 06 | 11h 16m 59s | +09° 52’ 10” | -12.06 | 1,991.2” | Leo |
| 2020 Apr 07 | 12h 13m 18s | +04° 01’ 32” | -12.44 | 2,004.6” | Virgo |
| 2020 Apr 08 | 13h 09m 20s | -02° 06’ 54” | -12.74 | 2,007.5” | Virgo |
| 2020 Apr 09 | 14h 05m 36s | -08° 07’ 04” | -12.52 | 1,999.3” | Virgo |
| 2020 Apr 10 | 15h 02m 41s | -13° 33’ 29” | -12.14 | 1,981.1” | Libra |