Major Bodies»
Above the horizon.Rise:2:18|Tran:11:40|Set:21:08
Altitude: 44.7°Azimuth: 101.7°Direction: East-South-East
The Moon tonight is in Waning Crescent phase and is currently in the constellation of Taurus,at a distance of
The current Right Ascension of The Moon is
The magnitude of The Moon is
This image accurately depicts the Moon's current appearance, highlighting the key features near its terminator:
Phase: Waning CrescentAge: 27.41 days
View Moon Position in the Sky
Credits: this image is derived from original work by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Map showing The Moon in Taurus on July, 04 2024. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
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's rise,transit and set times ofThe Moon fromGreenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- Moon isabove the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
- Right now it is placed in the East-South-East direction at an altitude of 45° above the horizon.
- 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.
Sky map showing The Moon in Taurus on July, 04 2024.Field of view: 10x6 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.
The distance of The Moon from Earth is currently
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.
Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499,the closest approach ofThe Moon to Earth happens on Wed Jan 13 2275 at a distance of 0.002382 Astronomical Units, or356,377 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computedwith a sampling interval of 1 day.
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 inaccuraciesfor objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepanciesbetween the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.
Chart of the magnitude of The Moon as a function of time
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 following table lists the ephemerides of The Moon computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Jun 27 | 22h 51m 00s | -10° 07’ 50” | -11.02 | 1,940.3” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Jun 28 | 23h 41m 49s | -03° 33’ 01” | -10.60 | 1,940.3” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Jun 29 | 00h 31m 50s | +03° 11’ 12” | -10.13 | 1,937.3” | Pisces |
| 2024 Jun 30 | 01h 22m 15s | +09° 44’ 32” | -9.59 | 1,931.6” | Pisces |
| 2024 Jul 01 | 02h 14m 17s | +15° 46’ 59” | -8.95 | 1,923.5” | Aries |
| 2024 Jul 02 | 03h 08m 48s | +20° 58’ 06” | -8.22 | 1,913.1” | Aries |
| 2024 Jul 03 | 04h 06m 09s | +24° 57’ 57” | -7.35 | 1,900.4” | Taurus |
| 2024 Jul 04 | 05h 05m 48s | +27° 29’ 26” | -6.35 | 1,885.5” | Taurus |
| 2024 Jul 05 | 06h 06m 23s | +28° 22’ 09” | -5.22 | 1,868.8” | Auriga |
| 2024 Jul 06 | 07h 05m 56s | +27° 35’ 39” | -4.38 | 1,850.8” | Gemini |
| 2024 Jul 07 | 08h 02m 43s | +25° 19’ 44” | -5.24 | 1,832.4” | Cancer |
| 2024 Jul 08 | 08h 55m 46s | +21° 50’ 44” | -6.26 | 1,814.7” | Cancer |
| 2024 Jul 09 | 09h 45m 01s | +17° 27’ 09” | -7.14 | 1,798.8” | Leo |
| 2024 Jul 10 | 10h 30m 56s | +12° 26’ 08” | -7.89 | 1,785.8” | Leo |
Compute the position of The Moonfor any date and time between 1 January 1600and 30 December 2499and display the results on an interactive star map.
