Moon Phase Today: Live Tracker, Full Moon Names & 2026 Calendar

What Phase Is the Moon in Right Now?

Two ways to answer this, both under thirty seconds.

Walk outside after sunset and look up. If the Moon is visible, what you see tells you almost everything. A thin sliver curving right (in the Northern Hemisphere) is a waxing crescent — growing over the next week. A sliver curving left is waning. A half-circle with the right side lit is first quarter. A half-circle left-lit is third quarter. A fat nearly-round Moon before full is waxing gibbous. A round disc is full.

Or open /moon-calendar on your phone. The page shows today's exact phase, illumination percentage, distance to the next full moon, and a twelve-month calendar. No sign-up, no ads, no location prompt — just the data.

Both methods work. The walk outside is better if you have the time.

The 8 Lunar Phases Explained

The cycle is continuous, but astronomers divide it into eight named phases. Four are "primary" (new, first quarter, full, third quarter) — exact moments when Sun-Earth-Moon geometry hits a specific angle. Four are "intermediate" (crescents and gibbouses) covering the transitions between them.

| Phase | Illumination | Shape | Visibility |

|-------|--------------|-------|------------|

| New Moon | 0% | Invisible (Sun behind it) | Rises and sets with the Sun |

| Waxing Crescent | 1-49% | Thin sliver, right side lit | Evening sky, sets after sunset |

| First Quarter | 50% | Half-circle, right side lit | Visible afternoon through midnight |

| Waxing Gibbous | 51-99% | Mostly full, right side lit | Visible afternoon until near dawn |

| Full Moon | 100% | Complete disc | Rises at sunset, sets at sunrise |

| Waning Gibbous | 99-51% | Mostly full, left side lit | Rises after sunset, visible through morning |

| Third Quarter | 50% | Half-circle, left side lit | Rises at midnight, visible until noon |

| Waning Crescent | 49-1% | Thin sliver, left side lit | Morning sky, visible before sunrise |

Illumination is not evenly spaced across the 29.5-day cycle. The Moon brightens fastest near the quarters and slowest near new and full — spherical geometry. A day before full the Moon is already 99% illuminated; the final 1% takes another twelve hours.

The direction of lighting flips between hemispheres. In the Southern Hemisphere, a waxing crescent opens to the left. The Moon itself is identical — you're just looking at it upside down relative to someone in Berlin or Chicago.

Why the Moon Has Phases

Phases happen because the Moon orbits Earth while both orbit the Sun. The Sun always lights one half of the Moon. What changes is how much of that lit half is pointed at us.

At new moon, the Moon sits roughly between Earth and the Sun. The lit side faces away. At full moon, the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun — the lit side faces us directly. The quarters fall in between, when we catch exactly half the lit hemisphere.

The complete cycle takes 29.5 days — the synodic month, slightly longer than the Moon's orbital period of 27.3 days (the sidereal month). The difference exists because Earth is moving around the Sun during that time, so the Moon has to travel an extra two days' worth of orbit to return to the same alignment.

One persistent misconception deserves retirement: there is no dark side of the Moon. The side permanently facing away from Earth gets just as much sunlight as the side facing us — during new moon, the "far side" is the only side that's lit. "Far side" is accurate. "Dark side" is a Pink Floyd album. One hemisphere of the Moon always faces Earth (tidal locking), so we never see the far side from the ground. NASA's Apollo missions and orbiters have photographed every square meter of it, and it's as sunlit as anywhere else during its lunar day.

Full Moon Names by Month

Each month's full moon has traditional names that predate modern astronomy. The names most commonly used in North America come from Algonquin, Ojibwe, and other Indigenous peoples, European colonial traditions, and the Old Farmer's Almanac, which began publishing them in the 1930s. The Almanac is the main reason these specific names became standardized.

The names describe seasonal observations — animal behavior, plant growth, weather — rather than anything about the Moon itself. They're calendar markers disguised as moon names.

• Wolf Moon (January) — named for wolves heard howling outside settlements during the coldest part of winter. Alternate names: Old Moon, Moon After Yule.
• Snow Moon (February) — the month of heaviest snowfall in much of North America. Alternates: Hunger Moon, Storm Moon.
• Worm Moon (March) — when thawing ground brings earthworms back to the surface, drawing birds. Alternate: Crow Moon, Sap Moon.
• Pink Moon (April) — named not for its color but for wild ground phlox, a pink wildflower that blooms in early spring. Alternates: Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Paschal Moon.
• Flower Moon (May) — peak wildflower bloom across the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Alternates: Corn Planting Moon, Milk Moon.
• Strawberry Moon (June) — wild strawberries ripen for harvest. Alternate: Rose Moon (European).
• Buck Moon (July) — male deer begin growing new antlers. Alternates: Thunder Moon, Hay Moon.
• Sturgeon Moon (August) — when Great Lakes sturgeon were most easily caught by Indigenous fishermen. Alternate: Grain Moon.
• Harvest Moon (September) — the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. Alternates: Corn Moon.
• Hunter's Moon (October) — hunters stockpiled meat for winter using the bright moonlight. Alternate: Blood Moon, Sanguine Moon.
• Beaver Moon (November) — when beavers finish winter dam-building, and trappers set their final traps before the freeze. Alternate: Frost Moon.
• Cold Moon (December) — the longest nights and coldest temperatures arrive. Alternates: Long Nights Moon, Moon Before Yule.

These names are cultural artifacts, not astronomical categories. Different traditions — Celtic, Chinese, Hindu, Maori — use entirely different names tied to their own seasonal observations. The Algonquin-Almanac tradition just happens to dominate English-language popular astronomy.

Rare Lunar Events

Most full moons come and go without fanfare. A few get special names.

Blue Moon — the second full moon in a single calendar month. Because the synodic cycle is 29.5 days and most months are 30 or 31, this happens roughly every 2-3 years. The phrase "once in a blue moon" is literal. The Moon does not actually appear blue — the name comes from older seasonal full moon counts. In 2026, the blue moon falls on May 31.

Supermoon — a full moon within 90% of its closest approach to Earth (perigee). Supermoons appear roughly 7% larger and 15% brighter than average full moons. The difference is real but subtle; hard to detect without side-by-side comparison.

Blood Moon — a total lunar eclipse, when Earth's shadow falls on the Moon and the only light reaching the surface is refracted through Earth's atmosphere, turning the disc deep red or copper. Despite the name, blood moons are safe to watch with the naked eye and last about an hour.

Harvest Moon — the full moon nearest the autumn equinox. What makes it notable is its rising behavior: for several nights near the equinox, the Moon rises only 25-30 minutes later each night instead of the usual 50. This gave pre-electric farmers extended evening light to finish harvest work — hence the name.

Full Moon Calendar 2026

2026 contains 13 full moons — one extra, which creates the blue moon on May 31. Dates below are UTC; local dates may shift by one day.

| Date (UTC) | Name | Notes |

|------------|------|-------|

| January 3 | Wolf Moon | |

| February 1 | Snow Moon | |

| March 3 | Worm Moon | |

| April 1 | Pink Moon | |

| May 1 | Flower Moon | |

| May 31 | Blue Moon | Second full moon of May |

| June 29 | Strawberry Moon | |

| July 29 | Buck Moon | |

| August 28 | Sturgeon Moon | |

| September 26 | Harvest Moon | Closest to Sept 23 equinox |

| October 26 | Hunter's Moon | |

| November 24 | Beaver Moon | |

| December 24 | Cold Moon | Christmas Eve full moon |

The December 24 full moon is rare — full moons fall on Christmas Eve only a handful of times per century. The last was 1977; the next after 2026 will be 2053.

Does the Moon Affect Sleep, Mood, or Behavior?

This is the question everyone asks, and the honest answer is: the effects are smaller than folklore claims, but not zero.

Sleep. A 2013 study in Current Biology tracked 33 subjects across full moon cycles in a controlled environment with no visible moonlight. Around full moon, subjects showed reduced deep (slow-wave) sleep by about 30%, took longer to fall asleep, and had lower melatonin levels — even though they couldn't see the Moon. A 2021 Science Advances study of 98 participants across three years found sleep onset delayed and total sleep shortened during the 3-5 days before a full moon. The effects are modest — typically 20-30 minutes of reduced sleep — but they appear consistently.

Mood. Despite persistent cultural beliefs, large-scale studies have not found reliable evidence that moon phase affects mood disorders, depression, or mental health hospitalizations. A meta-analysis of 37 studies in the Journal of Psychiatric Research concluded the lunar-mood correlation is too weak to be clinically meaningful.

Emergency rooms, crime, birth rates. The "full moon makes people crazy" claim (the root of "lunacy") has been tested repeatedly. Studies of ER admissions, police reports, and hospital birth records consistently show no significant correlation with moon phase. It's one of the most thoroughly debunked folk beliefs in medicine. Confirmation bias drives the myth — ER staff notice chaotic full moon nights and forget the quiet ones.

If you want to track whether lunar phase affects you, keep a two-month log, rate sleep and mood daily, check for patterns. Most people find correlations with sleep debt and stress that dwarf anything lunar.

How to Photograph the Moon

The Moon is deceptively hard to shoot well. The main mistakes: automatic settings (which blow out the surface into a featureless white disc) and not enough focal length (which makes the Moon look like a dot).

Core settings for a sharp lunar photograph:

• ISO 100-200 (keep noise low — the Moon is bright)
• Aperture f/8 to f/11 (sharpest range for most lenses)
• Shutter speed 1/125 to 1/250 second (fast enough to freeze rotation)
• Focal length 200mm minimum, 400-600mm ideal
• Manual focus, magnified live view, focus on the terminator (the line between light and dark)

For context shots — Moon rising over a landscape — shoot during the 10-20 minutes after moonrise when the Moon is low and the sky still holds color. Use a wider lens (50-100mm) and longer exposure (1/30 to 1/60 second). Expect to blow out surface detail to keep the foreground visible; legitimate trade-off.

For full disc with surface detail, use a telephoto or spotting scope, lock the tripod, enable mirror lock-up to kill vibration, and bracket exposures. The terminator shows the most dramatic crater shadows — which is why first quarter and third quarter are often better for photography than the full moon itself.

Moonrise and moonset fall in what photographers call the golden hour for a reason: the Moon picks up the same warm red-orange tones as the horizon sky.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the moon sometimes look red or orange?

When the Moon is low on the horizon, its light travels through more of Earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere scatters short-wavelength blue light out of the beam, leaving red and orange to reach your eyes. Same effect reddens sunsets. During a total lunar eclipse, all the light reaching the Moon is refracted through Earth's atmosphere — why blood moons are so deeply red.

When is the next full moon?

Check /moon-calendar for exact date and time at your location. The calendar above lists all 13 full moons of 2026 with UTC dates.

Why does the moon look bigger near the horizon?

The moon illusion — a genuine illusion, not an optical effect. The Moon's actual angular size doesn't change between horizon and zenith (measure it with a pencil at arm's length). The perceived enlargement is a brain quirk involving comparison with foreground objects. Scientists have debated the mechanism for 2,000 years and still don't fully agree.

What's the difference between a blue moon and a supermoon?

A blue moon is a calendar event — second full moon in a single month. A supermoon is astronomical — a full moon at or near perigee. They're independent: you can have one without the other, both at once, or neither.

Can the moon phase affect Earth's magnetic field or Schumann Resonance?

The Moon has no magnetic field of consequence and does not measurably affect Earth's geomagnetic environment or the Schumann Resonance. The Moon does drive ocean tides (via gravity) and possibly tiny atmospheric pressure effects. What actually drives Earth's electromagnetic environment is the Sun, the solar wind, and global lightning — not the Moon.

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The Moon is the one astronomical object anyone can watch without equipment, tonight, for free. The phase you see right now is the same phase your ancestors named — Wolf, Snow, Pink, Blue — and for the same reason: it was the brightest thing in the sky after sunset, and it kept time.

For the live phase, illumination percentage, and full 2026 calendar, open /moon-calendar. For the bigger picture of what the Sun, Earth, and space weather are doing tonight, /dashboard shows everything at once.

Traditional full moon names sourced from the Old Farmer's Almanac and Algonquin tradition. Astronomical data per NASA Moon.