Moon cycle today (18th March 2024)

waxing moon

First Quarter

The moon is currently 9.1 days old.

It is 394438.58 km from the Earth.

Next full moon is on 25 Mar 2024.

The next new moon is on 8 Apr 2024.

67.6% illuminated

March's moon is known as The Worm Moon

During this lunar cycle the moon will be at its closest on 10th March (356,895 km) and furthest on 23rd March (406,306 km).


Moon Phases and Full Moon Times

The Moon orbits the Earth approximately once a month - the Lunar cycle. As the Moon travels around the earth, the angle at which we view it in relation to the suns light changes. What this means is the illuminated proportion of the Moon visible from Earth changes as it orbits us. This is what gives us the phase of the moon.

In reality it takes a little less than a month for the Moon to complete its orbit of the Earth. Somewhere in the region of 29½ days to be more precise. Therefore the days of the month on which the different lunar phases occur varies throughout the year.

To calculate the moon phase for any given day should in theory be fairly simple as the length of the Moon's orbit is remarkably consistent. However, the moon orbit is not perfectly circular and there are other factors such as its distance from the Earth, all of which complicate the calculations.
The good news is we have done all the tricky sums for you and presented it in a nice and easy to use website!

One more thing a lot of people don't realise is the moon phase is the same throughout the world at any given time. So if it is full moon in Miami, it's full moon in Mombassa; if it's waxing gibbous in Beiruit, it's waxing gibbous in Bangladesh! (What does differ though is the time the moon is visible, ie moonrise and moonset times.

Full moon dates around the world

Africa »

Asia »

Australia & Pacific Islands »

Central America »

Europe »

Middle East »

North America »

South America »