Moon Phase Calculator
Pick any date and the calculator instantly returns the lunar phase, the moon's age (days since the previous new moon) and the percentage of the disc that is lit — plus the dates of the next four principal phases (new, first quarter, full, last quarter). Handy for mid-autumn moon-watching, stargazing, photography, fishing trips and tide planning.
Please pick a valid date.
Moon phase
Waning crescent
- Illuminated
- 1.7%
- Moon age
- 28.3 days
Upcoming principal phases
- New moon Sat, 16 May 2026
- First quarter Sun, 24 May 2026
- Full moon Sun, 31 May 2026
- Last quarter Sun, 7 June 2026
Calculated for UTC noon; local clock time can differ by a few hours.
Formula
age ≈ (JD − JD₀) mod 29.530 588 853 days | illumination = (1 − cos(2π · age / 29.531)) / 2
- · JD₀ = 2 451 550.260 (the 2000-01-06 18:14 UTC new moon, per USNO data).
- · Mean synodic month = 29.530 588 853 days (Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd ed., 1998).
- · Because the moon's orbit is elliptical, the actual instant of a phase can drift up to ≈ 0.5 day either side of this mean calculation.
- · Illumination uses the circular-orbit approximation: 0 % at new moon, 50 % at the quarters, 100 % at full moon.
- · Principal-phase classification uses a ±1-day window centred on the four canonical points (new, Q1, full, Q3).
- · All dates are reckoned at UTC noon. For more precise local instants in Hong Kong, see the HKO "Sun and moon" tables.
Frequently asked
Why does the real sky sometimes seem one day off from the calculator?
The moon's orbit is elliptical: it sweeps about 14° per day at perigee and only about 11° at apogee, so the true instant of new or full moon can drift up to roughly half a day either side of any mean-synodic prediction. We use the USNO/IAU mean synodic month (29.531 days) referenced to the 2000-01-06 new moon, which is plenty accurate for naming the phase (new, first quarter, full, last quarter, etc.) but is not intended to be minute-perfect — that is a fundamental limit of mean-period algorithms.
Is lunar-calendar day 1 always a new moon and day 15 always a full moon?
In the Chinese lunar (Xia) calendar, the day that contains the new moon (in UTC+8) is fixed as day 1 of the month, so day 1 is always a new-moon day. However, because the synodic month is not exactly 30 days, the actual full moon falls on either day 15 or day 16, alternating from month to month. It is perfectly normal — and astronomically correct — for the Mid-Autumn Festival (day 15) full moon to actually occur on day 16.
Why does 50 % illumination cover both first quarter and last quarter?
Both first and last quarter show a half-lit disc with ≈ 50 % illumination — the difference is which side is bright. The first quarter (waxing, illumination growing) shows the right side lit when viewed from the northern hemisphere, while the last quarter (waning, illumination shrinking) shows the left side lit. The calculator picks waxing vs. waning from the moon age and shows the appropriate emoji (🌓 vs. 🌗).
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