Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:12 
Transit: 12:56 
Sunset: 20:41
warning Set your observing location to get relevant data
Search  close
Major Bodies » 

The Moon

Below the horizon.  Rise: 22:11 | Tran: 1:05 | Set: 5:03
Alt: -14.53°   Az: 114.59°   Direction: East-South-East

The Moon tonight is in Waning Gibbous phase in the constellation of Scorpius, at a distance of 403,656.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 16h 12m 45s and the Declination is -26° 33’ 37” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of The Moon is -12.26 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

This image accurately depicts the Moon's current appearance, highlighting the key features near its terminator:

Moon's current appearance
Moon's current appearance
Phase: Waning Gibbous  Age: 16.08 days
View Moon Position in the Sky
Credits: this image is derived from original work by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Finder Charts

Map showing The Moon in Scorpius on May, 13 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing The Moon in Scorpius on May, 13 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

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.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

16h 12m 45s
-26° 33’ 37”
18h 40m 56s
10h 53m 41s

J2000

16h 11m 12s
-26° 29’ 46”

Additional Information

Scorpius
-12.26

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of The Moon from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 116.8°
Max altitude: 14.2°
Azimuth: 245.2°

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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of The Moon from Earth is currently 403,656.0 kilometers, equivalent to 0.0026982737 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1.346s to travel from The Moon and arrive to us.

403,656.0
0.0026982737
1.346s

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.

Chart of the distance of The Moon from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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

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:

Wed Jan 13 2275
356,377
0.002382

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

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.

Chart of the magnitude of The Moon as a function of time

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

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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Apparent DiameterDiameter Constellation
2025 May 06 10h 19m 35s +12° 03’ 36” -10.62 1,812.2” Leo
2025 May 07 11h 04m 27s +06° 27’ 24” -10.94 1,793.9” Leo
2025 May 08 11h 47m 30s +00° 41’ 41” -11.24 1,780.3” Virgo
2025 May 09 12h 29m 53s -05° 02’ 25” -11.53 1,771.0” Virgo
2025 May 10 13h 12m 36s -10° 34’ 39” -11.81 1,765.7” Virgo
2025 May 11 13h 56m 35s -15° 44’ 29” -12.09 1,763.9” Virgo
2025 May 12 14h 42m 38s -20° 20’ 32” -12.35 1,765.4” Libra
2025 May 13 15h 31m 18s -24° 10’ 19” -12.44 1,769.7” Libra
2025 May 14 16h 22m 43s -27° 00’ 52” -12.20 1,776.8” Scorpius
2025 May 15 17h 16m 32s -28° 40’ 09” -11.93 1,786.6” Ophiuchus
2025 May 16 18h 11m 49s -28° 59’ 09” -11.65 1,799.2” Sagittarius
2025 May 17 19h 07m 22s -27° 53’ 52” -11.36 1,814.7” Sagittarius
2025 May 18 20h 01m 57s -25° 26’ 17” -11.05 1,833.2” Sagittarius
2025 May 19 20h 54m 53s -21° 43’ 21” -10.72 1,854.7” Capricornus

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive

  • The Moon: Complete reference information on TheSkyLive.com
  • The Moon Today: Current phase and a high-resolution image of the Moon's present appearance.
  • Next Full Moon: Precise date, time and visibility information of the next Full Moon.
  • Next New Moon: Precise date, time and additional information about the next New Moon.
  • Moon Calendar: Track the phases of the moon for each day.
  • Where is The Moon?: Key information on locating The Moon in the sky.
  • Distance from Earth: Find out how far The Moon is from Earth right now.
  • How Bright is The Moon?: Current visual brightness (magnitude) and apparent size.
  • Rise and Set Times: The Moon's rise and set times from your location.
  • Interactive Sky Map: planetarium-style interactive visualization of The Moon's position in the sky.
  • Ephemeris: 15 days The Moon's computed ephemeris.
  • Physical Data. Detailed information about physical properties of The Moon, such as mass and geometric properties.