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EnglishHow to Check the Moon's Position for a Date and Location with MoonCalc
Updated
Open MoonCalc.org, set the location's latitude and longitude (or use the map), pick a date and time, then read the Moon Altitude, Moon Azimuth, Moon Rise, Moon Culmination, and Moon Set values for that moment. The yellow curve on the map shows the Moon's path across the sky, and the time slider lets you scrub through the day. This works for any date the site's range selector covers, from roughly 2000 BCE to the present era, and for any location you can express as coordinates.
What you need before starting
- Coordinates for your location. MoonCalc takes latitude and longitude directly; the page also shows UTM and time zone fields, so you can cross-check that the location resolved correctly.
- A date and time. The date range selector spans blocks of a century, from -1999 to -1900 up through 0101 onward, so historical dates are supported, not just today.
- A rough sense of your time zone. The page displays TZ and DST fields for the selected location; verify them so the rise/set times match your local clock.
Step-by-step: getting the Moon's position
1. Set the location
Enter latitude and longitude in the Lat and Lng fields, or use the map to place the point. Confirm the Height, UTM, TZ, and DST readouts update to match — these are the site's own check that the geo data resolved.
2. Choose the date and time
Use the month and day selectors and the time field (shown in the ??:??:?? format) to set the moment you care about. The selection date range control lets you jump to a different century block if you're looking at a historical date.
3. Read the core position numbers
The "Lunar data for the selected location" panel reports:
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Moon Rise | When the Moon comes above the horizon |
| Moon Culmination | When it reaches its highest point |
| Moon Set | When it drops below the horizon |
| Moon Distance | How far the Moon is from you at that moment |
| Moon Altitude | How high above the horizon the Moon sits |
| Moon Azimuth | The compass direction of the Moon |
| Shadow Length | Shadow cast at an object level you enter in meters |
Altitude and azimuth together are the actual "position" answer: altitude says how high, azimuth says which way to look.
4. Interpret the map and trajectory
The thin yellow curve is the Moon's trajectory for the day. The closer the Moon appears to the center of the map, the higher it is above the horizon — so a Moon near the edge is low, and one near the middle is near culmination. The colors on the time slider indicate moonlight during the day, which helps you tell daytime visibility from nighttime.
5. Scrub through time
Drag the Moon on the time slider with the mouse, or use the keyboard arrow keys, to step through the day. Each move updates the altitude, azimuth, and distance for that instant, so you can watch the Moon climb toward culmination and descend toward set.
6. Check live mode and exit it
The LIVE mode tracks the Moon in real time. To leave it, click the STOP-LIVE button — the page states this explicitly, so don't assume the display is frozen on your chosen time until you've stopped live tracking.
7. Pull extra data if you need it
The "More lunar data" section adds JDE, DeltaT, GMST, GHA, Declination, RightAscension, and the dates of the next Perigee and Apogee. Use these when you need precise astronomical coordinates or want to know whether the Moon is near or far in its orbit.
8. Save your result
Use Print – Current Data or Print – Current Map to capture the numbers or the trajectory map as a record.
How to verify you did it right
- The rise, culmination, and set times should be in ascending order within the day, and culmination should fall between rise and set.
- Altitude should be near its maximum at culmination and negative when the Moon is below the horizon.
- If the times look shifted by hours, recheck the TZ and DST fields — a wrong time zone is the most common cause of mismatched rise/set times.
Common sticking points
- Live mode overriding your selected time. If the numbers keep changing on their own, you're still in LIVE mode; press STOP-LIVE.
- Coordinates in the wrong order or hemisphere. Latitude and longitude are separate fields — a swapped pair puts you in the wrong part of the world, and the UTM readout will look wrong.
- Expecting the map to show altitude directly. The map encodes height by distance from center, not by a labeled scale; read the numeric Moon Altitude for the exact figure.
- Historical dates. Use the century-block selector rather than typing a year outside the current block.
Related tools on the same site
MoonCalc links to SunMoonTrack for combined Sun–Moon context, suncalc.org for the Sun, planetscalc.org for planets, and orbtrack.org for satellites. The site is also available in German at mondverlauf.de. Donations are handled through PayPal and are optional; the page does not state any pricing or login requirement for using the calculator itself.