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The Moon Ephemeris Calculator
Compute the position of The Moon for any date and time between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499 and display the results on an interactive star map.
In Evidence
The Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and is the fifth-largest satellite in the solar system. It has a diameter of 3,474 kilometers and a mass of 7.34 x 10^22 kilograms, making it about 1/81st the mass of Earth. The Moon's surface is covered in craters, mountains, and plains, with the largest feature being the Imbrium Basin. The Moon has no atmosphere and no magnetic field, which means that it is exposed to the solar wind and cosmic rays. It has a day length of 29.5 Earth days, which is also the length of its orbital period around Earth. The Moon has been used as a celestial body for human exploration and scientific study. The first human landing on the Moon was in 1969 during NASA's Apollo 11 mission, and since then, several missions have been sent to study the Moon's geology, surface features, and potential for future human exploration and colonization.
Today the Moon is in Waxing Gibbous phase and is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius.
The current Right Ascension of The Moon is 18h 16m 45s and the Declination is -28° 41’ 44” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom ). The current magnitude of The Moon is -10.33 (JPL).
Today's rise, transit and set times of The Moon from Greenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- Moon is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom .
- Go to interactive sky chart
If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.
The Moon Position and Finder Charts
Below we provide The Moon finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees, while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees. Click on each finder chart to access a full screen interactive Online Planetarium.
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
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Field of view: 10x6 degrees
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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 from Earth
The distance of The Moon from Earth is currently 375,239 kilometers, equivalent to 0.002508 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1.2517 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 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of The Moon to Earth happens on Wed Jan 13 2275 at a distance of 0.002382 Astronomical Units, or 356,377 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
The Moon Brightness and Light Curve
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 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Sep 16 | 12h 13m 23s | +00° 40’ 14” | -4.90 | 1,780.6” | Virgo |
| 2023 Sep 17 | 12h 56m 14s | -05° 02’ 45” | -5.98 | 1,791.3” | Virgo |
| 2023 Sep 18 | 13h 40m 22s | -10° 39’ 06” | -6.93 | 1,804.3” | Virgo |
| 2023 Sep 19 | 14h 26m 43s | -15° 55’ 50” | -7.77 | 1,819.9” | Libra |
| 2023 Sep 20 | 15h 16m 14s | -20° 37’ 54” | -8.50 | 1,837.9” | Libra |
| 2023 Sep 21 | 16h 09m 38s | -24° 27’ 56” | -9.15 | 1,858.5” | Scorpius |
| 2023 Sep 22 | 17h 07m 05s | -27° 06’ 30” | -9.73 | 1,881.3” | Ophiucus |
| 2023 Sep 23 | 18h 07m 58s | -28° 14’ 53” | -10.25 | 1,905.6” | Sagittarius |
| 2023 Sep 24 | 19h 10m 45s | -27° 39’ 08” | -10.72 | 1,930.2” | Sagittarius |
| 2023 Sep 25 | 20h 13m 28s | -25° 14’ 56” | -11.16 | 1,953.3” | Capricornus |
| 2023 Sep 26 | 21h 14m 23s | -21° 09’ 39” | -11.57 | 1,972.7” | Capricornus |
| 2023 Sep 27 | 22h 12m 36s | -15° 41’ 08” | -11.96 | 1,985.9” | Aquarius |
| 2023 Sep 28 | 23h 08m 08s | -09° 13’ 50” | -12.33 | 1,991.0” | Aquarius |
| 2023 Sep 29 | 00h 01m 40s | -02° 15’ 11” | -12.69 | 1,986.6” | Pisces |