When is the next full moon?

When the next full moon and new moon are, in your local time, with the full moon's rise time and direction. Free moon phase calculator.

Open the moonrise & phase planner

Full moon is an instant

The full moon is the moment the moon is opposite the sun in the sky. It happens at one instant worldwide, so its local date can differ between time zones. The moon looks full for about a day either side.

Photographing a rising full moon

The best moonrise shots often come the evening before the full moon, when the moon rises a little before sunset and the landscape is still lit. On the full moon day itself it usually rises after sunset.

Dark skies

For stargazing and the Milky Way, the days around the new moon are darkest. Around the full moon, bright moonlight washes out faint stars for most of the night.

Full moon and new moon dates to the end of 2027

Every full and new moon from 22 October 2026 to December 2027, in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Add your own time zone's offset — a full moon late in the UTC evening falls on the next calendar day in Asia and Australia. 2027 has 12 full moons. No calendar month in this period has two full moons.

Phase instants are calculated with the same lunar theory as the planner and checked against U.S. Naval Observatory phase data.

Related

• Sun position and golden hour — plan a moonrise photo in the last light of the evening.
• Planets tonight — the moon often passes close to bright planets; the planner lists the pairings.
• When the clocks change — why a moonrise time can jump by an hour from one day to the next.

Times are calculated with the lunar theory in Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, and checked against U.S. Naval Observatory data.