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Moonrise and Moonset Calculator

Overview

Find moonrise and moonset times for any city and date in local time, with the Moon's highest point, its phase and how much of it is lit, using the lunar theory from Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms.

Pick a city and a date to see when the Moon comes up over the horizon, when it goes down, when it is highest in the sky and how full it is. Unlike the Sun, the Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day on average, so on roughly one day a month it does not rise at all before midnight, and on another it does not set. The calculator follows the Moon minute by minute across the local day using the lunar theory in Jean Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms, and marks the moment its upper edge touches the horizon, allowing for refraction and for the Moon's parallax. Every time is in the city's own time zone with daylight saving time, so you can catch a full moon rising, plan a dark night for stargazing or know whether the Moon will be up during an evening event. Far north or south it also tells you when the Moon stays above or below the horizon all day.

Formula and example

h0=0.7275×Parallax−0.5667∘\displaystyle \text{h0} = 0.7275 \times \text{Parallax} - 0.5667^{\circ}
sin⁡Alt=sin⁡Latsin⁡Dec+cos⁡Latcos⁡Deccos⁡H\displaystyle \sin \text{Alt} = \sin \text{Lat} \sin \text{Dec} + \cos \text{Lat} \cos \text{Dec} \cos \text{H}
Moonrise, moonset:Alt=h0\displaystyle \text{Moonrise, moonset}: \text{Alt} = \text{h0}

Where:

h0
— The altitude of the Moon's centre at the moment of rise or set, about +0.125°. Refraction lowers it by 0.5667° and the Moon's radius by about a quarter degree, while the Moon's closeness (parallax) raises it by about a degree.
Parallax
— The Moon's horizontal parallax, about 0.9° to 1.0°: how far its direction shifts between the Earth's centre and its surface. It is larger when the Moon is closer.
Alt
— The altitude of the Moon's centre above the horizon, in degrees, as seen from the Earth's centre.
Lat
— The city's latitude in degrees, north positive.
Dec
— The Moon's declination, from the lunar theory in Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms. Over each 27.3-day month it swings north and south, as far as ±28.7° in 2024 and 2025 and only ±18.3° in years like 2015 and 2034.
H
— The Moon's hour angle: how far the sky has turned since the Moon was due south (or north), from the city's longitude and the sidereal time. It is 0 at transit, when the Moon is highest.
Moonrise, moonset
— The moments Alt equals h0, rising before transit and setting after it. The Moon moves fast, so the calculator recomputes its position every 10 minutes through the local day and narrows each crossing down to a second.

Worked example

London (51.5074° N, 0.1278° W) on 21 June 2024, the night before the full moon. At moonrise the Moon's parallax is 0.9598° and its declination −28.306°; at moonset, early that morning, they are 0.9518° and −27.503°.

  1. Rise and set altitude for that evening's parallax

    0.7275×0.9598−0.5667≈0.1316∘\displaystyle 0.7275 \times 0.9598 - 0.5667 \approx 0.1316^{\circ}

  2. Hour angle at moonrise: the Moon is 47.04° east of due south

    cos⁡H=0.00230+0.78268×0.474180.62241×0.88043≈0.6815⇒47.04∘\displaystyle \cos \text{H} = \frac{0.00230 + 0.78268 \times 0.47418}{0.62241 \times 0.88043} \approx 0.6815 \Rightarrow 47.04^{\circ}

  3. Hour angle at moonset (h0 = 0.1258°): the Moon is 48.80° west of due south

    cos⁡H=0.00220+0.78268×0.461790.62241×0.88699≈0.6587⇒48.80∘\displaystyle \cos \text{H} = \frac{0.00220 + 0.78268 \times 0.46179}{0.62241 \times 0.88699} \approx 0.6587 \Rightarrow 48.80^{\circ}

Result

The Moon sets at 03:24 BST and rises again at 21:44 BST, 99.4% lit. It is highest at 00:01 BST, only 11.2° above the southern horizon. The calculator finds these moments by stepping through the day, because the Moon's declination changes by nearly a degree between moonset and moonrise.

FAQs

Why is there no moonrise on some days?

The Moon rises on average about 50 minutes later each day, so its rise time works its way round the clock once a month. When it rises just before midnight one day, the next rise comes just after midnight, on the day after next, and the day in between has no moonrise at all. In New York the Moon rose at 23:13 on 21 December 2024 and next at 00:13 on 23 December, so 22 December had no moonrise. The same happens with moonset: on 8 December 2024 New York had no moonset, because the Moon set at 00:15 on the 9th.

Why does moonrise get later each day?

The Moon moves eastward along its orbit by about 13° a day, so the Earth has to turn for about 50 extra minutes before the Moon comes back over the horizon. The delay varies a lot with the angle of the Moon's path to the horizon. In London in June 2024 the Moon rose at 17:56, 19:15, 20:33, 21:44, 22:39, 23:19 and 23:47 BST from the 18th to the 24th: gaps shrinking from 79 to 28 minutes.

Does the full moon rise at sunset?

Roughly. At full moon the Moon is opposite the Sun, so it rises around sunset and sets around sunrise. In London on 17 October 2024, the day of the full moon, the Moon set at 07:20 BST and rose at 17:51, while the Sun set at 18:02. A new moon rises and sets with the Sun and cannot be seen; a first quarter moon rises around midday and a last quarter around midnight.

Why was the full moon so low in June 2024?

In summer the full moon sits opposite the high summer Sun, so it follows a low winter-Sun path across the sky. In London on 21 June 2024 the 99.4% lit Moon was highest at 00:01 BST at only 11.2° above the horizon. In New York on 21 December 2024 the waning gibbous Moon climbed to 57.3° at 04:55 EST.

What does the calculator show near the poles?

Like the Sun, the Moon can stay up or down for days at high latitudes, and here it does so about every two weeks. In Tromsø (69.6° N) the Moon stayed above the horizon from 13 to 18 December 2024, around the full moon of the 15th, and below it from 27 December to the end of the month, around the new moon of the 30th. On those days both rows say No moonrise today and No moonset today, and a note says whether the Moon is up or down all day.

How accurate are the moonrise and moonset times?

They agree with the US Naval Observatory's tables to within about a minute: for London on 21 June 2024 both give moonset at 03:24 and moonrise at 21:44 BST, and for New York on 21 December 2024 moonset at 11:28 and moonrise at 23:13 EST. Hills, buildings, your height above sea level and unusual refraction can shift what you see by a few minutes.

How to use

Choose a city and a date to get that day's moonrise, moonset and the Moon's phase in local time.

  1. Choose the cityStart typing the city's name and pick it from the list. The calculator uses its latitude, longitude and time zone, so London gives times in BST in summer and GMT in winter.
  2. Pick the dateToday is filled in by default. Choose any day up to ten years ahead; the results update as soon as you change it.
  3. Read moonrise and moonsetThe top card shows moonrise and moonset in local time and how much of the Moon is lit. Moonset can come before moonrise on the same day, as in London on 21 June 2024: set at 03:24, rise at 21:44.
  4. Check the phase and transitThe table gives the phase, the time the Moon is highest and how many degrees above the horizon it climbs then. Save a scenario and change the date to compare a few nights.

Assumptions

  • Times are for the moment the Moon's upper edge touches a flat, sea-level horizon under standard refraction, following the method in Jean Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms (2nd edition). Hills, buildings and elevation are not taken into account.
  • The Moon's position comes from the 60-term truncated lunar theory, good to about an arcminute, which keeps rise and set times within about a minute of the US Naval Observatory's tables.
  • The day runs from local midnight to the next midnight in the city's time zone, with daylight saving time. A rise or set after midnight belongs to the next day, which is why roughly one day a month shows No moonrise today or No moonset today.
  • Illumination and phase are read at 12:00 noon local time; the phase is a principal phase only if its exact moment falls on that day.

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