The Moon

EnglishItalianoEspañol Home » Major Bodies » The Moon The Moon Below the horizon. Rise: 04:13 | Tran: 07:38 | Set: 11:07 Alt: -11.14° Az: 239.77° Direction: West-South-West

Today the Moon is the constellation of Sagittarius, at a distance of 398,798.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 19h 10m 37s and the Declination is -27° 18’ 39” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of the Moon is -9.06.

Current Moon Appearance

The image below shows the actual appearance of today's Moon phase. Check out the list of prominent lunar features suitable for observations today.

Phase: Waning Crescent Age: 24.19 days Credits: this image is derived from original work by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of the Moon in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Loading the finder chart... Star map showing the position of the Moon in the constellation of Sagittarius on March 13, 2026. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map. Loading the finder chart... Star map showing the position of the Moon in the constellation of Sagittarius on March 13, 2026. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

Right Ascension 19h 10m 37s Declination -27° 18’ 39” Hour Angle 04h 50m 16s Sidereal Time 00h 00m 54s

J2000

Right Ascension 19h 09m 00s Declination -27° 21’ 17”

Additional Information

Constellation Sagittarius Magnitude -9.06

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of the Moon from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 137.5° RISE 04:13 Max altitude: 10.6° TRANSIT 07:38 Azimuth: 223.6° SET 11:07

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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of the Moon from Earth is currently 398,798.0 kilometers, equivalent to 0.0026658000 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1.330s to travel from the Moon and arrive to us.

Distance Km 398,798.0 Distance AU 0.0026658000 Light Travel Time 1.330s

The following graph shows the distance of the Moon from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of the Moon from Earth in Astronomical Units (au) Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 1600 and December 30, 2499, the closest approach of the Moon to Earth will happen on Wednesday 13 January 2275 at a distance of 0.002382 Astronomical Units, or 356,377 kilometers:

Date Wednesday 13 January 2275 Distance Kilometers 356,377 Distance AU 0.002382

Note: the values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of the Moon, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of the Moon as a function of time

Physical Properties

The table below lists the known key physical properties of the Moon.

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

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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Apparent DiameterDiameter	Constellation
Mar 06 2026	12h 51m 30s	-09° 36’ 12”	-11.90	1,823.0”	Virgo
Mar 07 2026	13h 36m 54s	-15° 00’ 35”	-11.57	1,805.0”	Virgo
Mar 08 2026	14h 23m 28s	-19° 45’ 50”	-11.24	1,790.0”	Libra
Mar 09 2026	15h 11m 48s	-23° 41’ 41”	-10.91	1,779.1”	Libra
Mar 10 2026	16h 02m 10s	-26° 38’ 21”	-10.56	1,773.2”	Scorpius
Mar 11 2026	16h 54m 28s	-28° 26’ 58”	-10.19	1,772.8”	Ophiuchus
Mar 12 2026	17h 48m 07s	-29° 00’ 25”	-9.78	1,778.1”	Sagittarius
Mar 13 2026	18h 42m 19s	-28° 14’ 38”	-9.33	1,789.1”	Sagittarius
Mar 14 2026	19h 36m 05s	-26° 09’ 21”	-8.80	1,805.1”	Sagittarius
Mar 15 2026	20h 28m 44s	-22° 48’ 33”	-8.17	1,825.4”	Capricornus
Mar 16 2026	21h 19m 57s	-18° 19’ 55”	-7.42	1,848.7”	Capricornus
Mar 17 2026	22h 09m 54s	-12° 54’ 15”	-6.50	1,873.2”	Aquarius
Mar 18 2026	22h 59m 09s	-06° 45’ 11”	-5.38	1,897.1”	Aquarius
Mar 19 2026	23h 48m 31s	-00° 09’ 19”	-4.14	1,918.4”	Pisces

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive

• The Moon: Complete reference information on TheSkyLive.com.
• Today's Moon Phase: Current phase of the Moon, high-resolution image of its present appearance and list of visible features.
• Next Full Moon: Precise date, time and visibility information of the next Full Moon.
• Next New Moon: Precise date, time and additional information about the next New Moon.
• Moon Calendar: Track the phases of the moon for each day.
• Lunar Eclipses: Extensive information about future and past lunar eclipses.
• Where is the Moon?: Key information on where to find the Moon in the sky.
• Distance of the Moon from Earth: Find out how far the Moon is from Earth right now.
• How Bright is the Moon?: Current visual brightness (magnitude) and apparent size.
• Rise and Set Times: Rise and set times of the Moon from your location.
• Interactive Sky Map: Planetarium-style interactive visualization of the Moon's position in the sky.
• Ephemeris: 15 days the Moon's computed ephemeris.
• Physical Data: Detailed information about physical properties of the Moon.