What time does the moon rise tonight?
Tonight's moonrise and moonset time and direction for your location, with the moon's phase and how much of it is lit. Free, runs in your browser.
Open the moonrise & phase planner
The moon rises later every day
On average the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, because it moves about 13° eastward around the sky in a day. The delay varies from roughly half an hour to more than an hour depending on the season and your latitude. Once a month there is a day with no moonrise at all.
Moonrise depends on the phase
A full moon rises around sunset and sets around sunrise. A first-quarter moon rises around midday and is high in the evening sky; a last-quarter moon rises around midnight. A new moon rises and sets with the sun and cannot be seen.
Where to look
Like the sun, the moon does not rise due east. Its rising direction swings north and south of east over the month — further than the sun does — so check the direction for your date before setting up a shot.
Moonrise around the full moon of 26 October 2026
Moonrise for eight evenings around the full moon at 04:12 UTC on 26 October 2026, in local clock time, with the direction it rises in and how much of the disc is lit. Read down a column to see the daily delay and the rising point moving north.
London
Europe/London. Daily delay here: 13 to 74 minutes.
| Date | Moonrise | Direction | Lit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct | 16:33 | 88° | 91% |
| 24 Oct | 16:46 | 78° | 96% |
| 25 Oct | 16:01 ⟲ clocks changed | 68° | 99% |
| 26 Oct | 16:20 | 58° | 100% |
| 27 Oct | 16:47 | 50° | 97% |
| 28 Oct | 17:26 | 44° | 92% |
| 29 Oct | 18:22 | 42° | 85% |
| 30 Oct | 19:36 | 44° | 76% |
New York
America/New_York. Daily delay here: 24 to 72 minutes.
| Date | Moonrise | Direction | Lit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct | 16:35 | 87° | 92% |
| 24 Oct | 16:59 | 78° | 97% |
| 25 Oct | 17:26 | 70° | 100% |
| 26 Oct | 17:58 | 63° | 99% |
| 27 Oct | 18:38 | 57° | 97% |
| 28 Oct | 19:29 | 53° | 91% |
| 29 Oct | 20:31 | 52° | 84% |
| 30 Oct | 21:43 | 55° | 74% |
Sydney
Australia/Sydney. Daily delay here: 63 to 74 minutes.
| Date | Moonrise | Direction | Lit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct | 16:12 | 92° | 88% |
| 24 Oct | 17:15 | 84° | 94% |
| 25 Oct | 18:22 | 76° | 98% |
| 26 Oct | 19:32 | 68° | 100% |
| 27 Oct | 20:45 | 62° | 99% |
| 28 Oct | 21:59 | 58° | 95% |
| 29 Oct | 23:09 | 56° | 89% |
| 30 Oct | no moonrise this day | – | 80% |
In London the clocks went back on 25 October 2026 (daylight saving time ended), so that day's moonrise reads earlier on the clock than the day before. See when the clocks change.
Sydney has a day in this list with no moonrise at all: the moon rose just before midnight the day before and rises again just after midnight the day after.
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.