Explore the Moon's current phase, orbit position, illumination percentage, and real-time Earth-Moon-Sun simulation with stunning 2D visualizations.
Understanding the Earth–Moon–Sun relationship and why the Moon's appearance changes every night.
The Moon is between Earth and Sun. The sunlit side faces away from us, making the Moon invisible or very dark in the night sky. This marks the start of a new lunar cycle.
At first and third quarter, exactly half the Moon's face is illuminated. This occurs when the Moon is at 90° angles to the Earth-Sun line, creating the distinctive half-moon appearance.
Earth is between the Moon and Sun. The entire sunlit hemisphere faces Earth, creating maximum illumination (100%). Full Moons occur approximately every 29.53 days.
The Moon orbits Earth at an average distance of 384,400 km, with speeds varying between 3,683 km/h (apogee) and 3,935 km/h (perigee) due to its elliptical orbit path.
The Moon doesn't emit light — it reflects sunlight. As it orbits Earth, we see different portions of its sunlit hemisphere, creating the phase cycle from new to full and back again.
Waxing means the illuminated portion is increasing (New → Full Moon). Waning means it's decreasing (Full → New Moon). Crescent phases show less than 50%, Gibbous shows more than 50%.