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 Oct 09 | 12h 56m 23s | -00° 53’ 08” | -4.52 | 1,927.4” | Virgo |
| 2018 Oct 10 | 13h 48m 46s | -05° 51’ 07” | -5.23 | 1,907.0” | Virgo |
| 2018 Oct 11 | 14h 40m 45s | -10° 24’ 37” | -6.35 | 1,883.3” | Libra |
| 2018 Oct 12 | 15h 32m 44s | -14° 20’ 09” | -7.29 | 1,858.4” | Libra |
| 2018 Oct 13 | 16h 24m 51s | -17° 27’ 37” | -8.06 | 1,834.2” | Ophiucus |
| 2018 Oct 14 | 17h 17m 02s | -19° 40’ 05” | -8.70 | 1,812.5” | Ophiucus |
| 2018 Oct 15 | 18h 09m 06s | -20° 54’ 01” | -9.25 | 1,794.7” | Sagittarius |
| 2018 Oct 16 | 19h 00m 43s | -21° 08’ 39” | -9.71 | 1,781.8” | Sagittarius |
| 2018 Oct 17 | 19h 51m 33s | -20° 25’ 45” | -10.12 | 1,774.4” | Sagittarius |
| 2018 Oct 18 | 20h 41m 25s | -18° 49’ 00” | -10.50 | 1,772.7” | Capricornus |
| 2018 Oct 19 | 21h 30m 11s | -16° 23’ 26” | -10.84 | 1,776.5” | Capricornus |
| 2018 Oct 20 | 22h 18m 00s | -13° 15’ 03” | -11.18 | 1,785.5” | Aquarius |
| 2018 Oct 21 | 23h 05m 09s | -09° 30’ 44” | -11.50 | 1,798.7” | Aquarius |
| 2018 Oct 22 | 23h 52m 08s | -05° 18’ 15” | -11.82 | 1,815.3” | Aquarius |
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 | |