Moon Phase Calendar
Pick a month to see the Moon's phase and illumination for every night, the exact times of each primary phase in your own time zone, and the moonless weeks that are best for deep-sky observing.
October 2026
Illumination at 21:00 local time. Phase times in UTC.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
169% | 258% | 347% Last Quarter | 435% | |||
525% | 616% | 79% Dark-sky night (within 3 days of new moon) | 84% Dark-sky night (within 3 days of new moon) | 91% Dark-sky night (within 3 days of new moon) | 100% New Moon Dark-sky night (within 3 days of new moon) | 112% Dark-sky night (within 3 days of new moon) |
125% Dark-sky night (within 3 days of new moon) | 1310% Dark-sky night (within 3 days of new moon) | 1417% | 1525% | 1633% | 1743% | 1852% First Quarter |
1962% | 2071% | 2179% | 2287% | 2393% | 2498% | 25100% |
2699% Full Moon | 2796% | 2890% | 2982% | 3072% | 3161% |
Primary phases this month
- Last QuarterSat 3 Oct, 13:25
- New MoonSat 10 Oct, 15:50
- First QuarterSun 18 Oct, 16:13
- Full MoonMon 26 Oct, 04:12
Moon drawings show the view from the northern hemisphere; south of the equator the lit side is mirrored.
How the Moon's phases work
The Moon is always half lit by the Sun. What changes over its 29.5-day synodic month is how much of that lit half faces us. At new moon the lit side faces away; at full moon it faces us fully; at the quarters we see half of the disc lit.
The phase is the same everywhere on Earth at a given instant, but the calendar date of each phase can differ by a day between time zones — which is why the phase times on this page are shown in your own zone.
Why stargazers plan around the new moon
A full moon brightens the sky by several magnitudes, wiping out faint galaxies, nebulae and the Milky Way. The week centred on new moon gives the darkest skies of the month; the calendar marks those nights.
A waxing crescent sets in the evening and a waning crescent rises before dawn, so even away from new moon there are often moon-free hours — the city forecast pages show exactly when.
The Moon itself is best observed away from full moon: near the terminator (the line between light and dark) shadows are long and craters stand out.
How this calendar is calculated
Phases and illumination are computed in your browser with astronomy-engine, an open-source astronomy library accurate to within about a minute for lunar phases. Illumination is the fraction of the Moon's disc lit, sampled at 21:00 local time each day.