The Moon
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.
The Moon tonight is in Waxing Gibbous phase and is currently in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 404,078 kilometers from Earth.
Today's rise, transit and set times of The Moon from Greenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- Moon is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom.
- Right now it is placed in the South direction at an altitude of 48° 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.
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 Moon Distance from Earth
The distance of The Moon from Earth is currently 404,078 kilometers, equivalent to 0.002701 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1.3479 seconds to travel from The Moon and arrive to us.
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.
The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth.
Closest Approach of The Moon to Earth
Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of The Moon to Earth happens on Wed Jan 13 2275 at a distance of 0.002382 Astronomical Units, or 356,377 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
The Moon Brightness and Light Curve
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 |
The Moon 15 Days 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 May 09 | 03h 48m 06s | +23° 45’ 41” | -5.25 | 1,937.0” | Taurus |
| 2024 May 10 | 04h 48m 50s | +26° 55’ 42” | -6.43 | 1,912.7” | Taurus |
| 2024 May 11 | 05h 50m 17s | +28° 22’ 59” | -7.39 | 1,885.5” | Taurus |
| 2024 May 12 | 06h 50m 31s | +28° 07’ 29” | -8.18 | 1,858.0” | Gemini |
| 2024 May 13 | 07h 47m 49s | +26° 19’ 40” | -8.82 | 1,832.2” | Gemini |
| 2024 May 14 | 08h 41m 17s | +23° 16’ 00” | -9.35 | 1,809.8” | Cancer |
| 2024 May 15 | 09h 30m 47s | +19° 14’ 21” | -9.81 | 1,792.0” | Leo |
| 2024 May 16 | 10h 16m 57s | +14° 30’ 43” | -10.20 | 1,779.4” | Leo |
| 2024 May 17 | 11h 00m 37s | +09° 18’ 16” | -10.56 | 1,772.5” | Leo |
| 2024 May 18 | 11h 42m 48s | +03° 47’ 50” | -10.90 | 1,770.9” | Virgo |
| 2024 May 19 | 12h 24m 34s | -01° 51’ 02” | -11.21 | 1,774.5” | Virgo |
| 2024 May 20 | 13h 07m 00s | -07° 28’ 56” | -11.52 | 1,782.5” | Virgo |
| 2024 May 21 | 13h 51m 03s | -12° 55’ 17” | -11.83 | 1,794.1” | Virgo |
| 2024 May 22 | 14h 37m 48s | -17° 57’ 12” | -12.14 | 1,808.5” | Libra |