The phases of the Moon have captivated people throughout the ages. Moon phases have helped man navigate the oceans, track time, planet crops, and create many fascinating myths & legends. The Full Moon occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. There are 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes (29.53 days) between every Full Moon lunar phase. The New Moon phase is when the moon is between the Earth and the Sun and the sun is shinning on the side of the moon that is away from the Earth. To see how the phases of the Moon change from day to day change the date and time in the Moon Calculator above.

Full Moon & New Moon Calendar - Search by year for full list of New Moon & Full Moon phase dates and times.

The Moon is about 30 times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon's diameter is 2,159 miles. The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 238,854 miles. This is about 3.7 times smaller than the Earth, making it the Solar System's fifth largest moon, both by diameter and mass, ranking behind Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, and Io.

Astronomy and Moon links

Moon pictures from NASA
This is a great set of High Resolution Moon pictures. The set of has around 130 pictures of Moon missions and Moon terrain Photographs.

Moon Mission pictures from NASA
Pictures are arranged by Moon mission and available is High resolution.

U.S. Naval Observatory Moon Phases
A chart of all teh moon phases from 2000 to 2010