The Moon
The Moon Sky Charts and Coordinates
This is a simplified sky chart, showing where The Moon is now with respect to the brightest stars and constellations.
More advanced sky charts are available on TheSkyLive for this object: 1) the Online Planetarium which is interactive and allows to select dates and additional objects to visualize; and 2) the Live Position and Data Tracker which provides the highest precision position data and features deep sky imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey.
The Moon Rise and Set Times
Today's The Moon rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]. All times are relative to the Europe/London timezone.
The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of The Moon touches the horizon, consideting the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmoshpere conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.
Current Moon Phase
Current Moon Sky Map
The Moon 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Dec 08 | 17h 32m 29s | -20° 25’ 41” | -4.77 | 1,807.9” | Ophiucus |
| 2018 Dec 09 | 18h 25m 10s | -21° 26’ 25” | -5.84 | 1,794.1” | Sagittarius |
| 2018 Dec 10 | 19h 17m 25s | -21° 25’ 37” | -6.77 | 1,782.4” | Sagittarius |
| 2018 Dec 11 | 20h 08m 35s | -20° 25’ 57” | -7.57 | 1,773.9” | Capricornus |
| 2018 Dec 12 | 20h 58m 22s | -18° 32’ 44” | -8.26 | 1,769.1” | Capricornus |
| 2018 Dec 13 | 21h 46m 35s | -15° 53’ 02” | -8.85 | 1,769.0” | Capricornus |
| 2018 Dec 14 | 22h 33m 27s | -12° 34’ 19” | -9.38 | 1,774.2” | Aquarius |
| 2018 Dec 15 | 23h 19m 23s | -08° 44’ 11” | -9.85 | 1,784.9” | Aquarius |
| 2018 Dec 16 | 00h 05m 02s | -04° 29’ 58” | -10.29 | 1,801.2” | Pisces |
| 2018 Dec 17 | 00h 51m 06s | +00° 00’ 30” | -10.70 | 1,822.7” | Cetus |
| 2018 Dec 18 | 01h 38m 29s | +04° 38’ 25” | -11.09 | 1,848.6” | Pisces |
| 2018 Dec 19 | 02h 27m 59s | +09° 12’ 37” | -11.47 | 1,877.4” | Cetus |
| 2018 Dec 20 | 03h 20m 27s | +13° 28’ 48” | -11.84 | 1,907.1” | Aries |
| 2018 Dec 21 | 04h 16m 30s | +17° 09’ 10” | -12.21 | 1,935.1” | Taurus |
Distance of The Moon from Earth
The following chart shows the distance of The Moon from Earth as a function of time. Distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with a 2 days interval.
The reported distances might be inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth.
Light Curve of The Moon
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 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 | |