Moonrise and Moonset Calculator
Choose a location and date to calculate when the Moon rises, sets and reaches its highest point in the sky, with local-time formatting, lunar phase and an interactive map.
By Aryan Khan, Founder & Editor · Updated October 2026
For example, at full moon the Moon rises within minutes of sunset and sets near sunrise — so a full-moon date picked from the calendar is automatically a moonlit-all-night plan.
How to use Moonrise and Moonset Calculator
The Moon keeps shifting hours — about 50 minutes later each day:
The Moonrise and Moonset Calculator estimates the day's moonrise, moonset and upper transit for a place, in that location's own time zone, alongside phase and illumination. Enter a place and date and read the Moon's working hours — the schedule behind moonlit walks and night photography.
- 1Search a place, use GPS, paste coordinates or click the map.
- 2Choose the calendar date.
- 3Read moonrise, moonset, upper transit, phase and illumination in the location's time zone.
- 4Use Moon Position Map when you need a live global view of where the Moon is above the horizon.
What people use Moonrise and Moonset Calculator for
1. Moonlit walks and night events
A walk planned for a 20:00 moonrise fails beautifully when the Moon rises at 23:40. Check the day's times first; pick the phase with the Moon Phase Calculator.
2. Photography alignment shots
The money shot — full moon rising behind a skyline — needs the rise time, the transit and the azimuth sense together. This tool's transit tells you when the Moon crosses the meridian, highest and due south (or north).
3. Fishing and boating nights
Moon overhead and underfoot periods anchor solunar lore; tides themselves follow the Moon's transit more than its face. The times here are the ones the lore is computed from.
4. Explaining a moonless night
Some dates have no moonrise at all — the Moon's daily ~50-minute slip means one calendar day a month gets skipped for each event. The tool reports the gap instead of forcing a time.
Worked examples
Near the autumn equinox at mid-northern latitudes, moonrise comes only about 25–30 minutes later on successive evenings instead of the usual ~50 — the shallow ecliptic angle at work, and the reason harvest moons feel glued to sunset.
At first quarter the Moon transits near sunset, rises around midday and sets around midnight; at last quarter it rises around midnight and transits near dawn. The phase name alone predicts the shift pattern — the calculator fills in the minutes.
The Moon's shift pattern by phase
Approximate local times the phase geometry produces — the calculator's daily answers follow this logic.
| Phase | Rises ≈ | Transits ≈ | Sets ≈ |
|---|---|---|---|
| New | Sunrise | Noon | Sunset |
| First quarter | Noon | Sunset | Midnight |
| Full | Sunset | Midnight | Sunrise |
| Last quarter | Midnight | Sunrise | Noon |
Times are estimates from a truncated lunar model in the place's IANA time zone — expect accuracy within roughly 10–20 minutes typically; terrain on the horizon shifts what you see by more than the model errs.
Moonrise and moonset are location-specific and can behave differently from sunrise and sunset
The Moon moves substantially relative to the stars from day to day, so rise and set times shift by roughly tens of minutes on average but not by a fixed amount. Latitude, date and lunar declination strongly affect the result.
Some high-latitude dates can have no moonrise or no moonset within a local civil day. Terrain and atmospheric refraction can also shift what an observer actually sees compared with the geometric event time.
How to interpret the result
The most common errors come from using a correct result to answer the wrong geographic question. Keep these points in mind for Moonrise and Moonset Calculator:
- When comparing day length across a year, remember the curve is your latitude's signature: near-equatorial sites hover at twelve hours while high latitudes swing wildly. Choose expectations by latitude, not by calendar folklore.
- Convert solar times to local clock times deliberately: the sun keeps astronomical time, while governments keep political time, and the gap between them is large in many countries. State both when sharing results.
Limits & appropriate use
Solar arithmetic's limits are small but real: the official zenith encodes average refraction, not today's atmosphere; coordinates are rounded to your input's precision; and terrain is absent unless you add height yourself — a mountain rises the sun late and the formulas won't know. Time adds the political layer: zones and DST are human law, and western edges of big zones (Spain, western China) make solar noon wander hours from clock noon. Every output here therefore carries its convention and both clocks, because an unanchored sunrise time is an argument, not a fact.
Lunar and seasonal outputs carry their own gentle limits: phase from the synodic approximation is hours-precise, which outruns every planning need but not ephemeris science; day length is geometric daylight, not sunshine, and clouds belong to climate's department. Escalation is rare and well-defined — astronomical almanacs and ephemerides for science, terrain-aware apps for mountain photography, and the tz database maintainers whenever a government invents a new DST rule at 48 hours' notice, as they delight in doing.
- Science-grade ephemerides → astronomical almanacs/JPL horizons.
- Mountain sunrise/sunset → terrain-aware horizon adjustments.
- Legal daylight definitions → jurisdictional statutes (they vary!).
Data & methodology
MapBench uses a truncated lunar-position model to estimate right ascension and declination, samples apparent altitude at five-minute intervals to find horizon crossings and maximum altitude, and formats the event instants in the selected location's IANA time zone.
For source details, licences and model limitations, see Data Sources and Methodology.
Key terms worth knowing
- Declination
- The sun's latitude-equivalent angle, ±23.44° across the year.
- Equation of time
- The sundial-vs-clock correction from orbit eccentricity and tilt.
Editorial guidance: MapBench explains the method and limitations so the tool can be used as a transparent reference, not as a black-box answer. For legal boundaries, safety-critical routing, surveying, engineering, regulated decisions or official statistics, verify the result with the responsible authority or a qualified professional.
Category: Sun & Moon. Results are intended for everyday analysis and planning unless a page explicitly states otherwise.
Moonrise is a location problem, not just a Moon-phase problem
The Moon's phase is nearly the same for everyone on Earth at a given instant, but the time it rises and sets depends strongly on where you are. Two observers in different countries can see the same phase while having very different moonrise, moonset and sky-position times. That is why this calculator starts with an actual geographic point and resolves the point to an IANA time zone before formatting event times.
For photographers, hikers, anglers and casual observers, rise and set times answer a practical question: when is the Moon likely to be above the local astronomical horizon? Upper transit adds another useful reference—the part of the day when the calculated lunar altitude is highest for the selected location.
How MapBench estimates the events
The tool calculates an approximate geocentric position for the Moon from a compact lunar theory, then evaluates the Moon's apparent altitude above the horizon throughout the selected day. MapBench samples that altitude at five-minute intervals. A crossing from below 0° to above 0° is treated as moonrise; the opposite crossing is moonset. The highest sampled altitude is used as an estimate of upper transit.
This approach is transparent and suitable for everyday planning, but it is intentionally described as an estimate. Professional astronomical ephemerides use more terms, topocentric parallax corrections, refraction models and finer numerical event solving. Local terrain also matters: a ridge or building can delay the moment the Moon becomes visible even when the geometric horizon event has already occurred.
Why a day can have no moonrise or no moonset
A missing event is not necessarily a calculation failure. The Moon's orbit is tilted to the ecliptic, and its declination changes substantially through the month. At higher latitudes the Moon can stay above the horizon through an entire calendar day or remain below it for the full day. In those cases the correct planning answer can genuinely be “no rise” or “no set” within that date window.
Method, assumptions & limits
- This tool’s method
- MapBench uses a truncated lunar-position model to estimate right ascension and declination, samples apparent altitude at five-minute intervals to find horizon crossings and maximum altitude, and formats the event instants in the selected location's IANA time zone.
- Before relying on the answer
- Check the date, location and time zone together. A solar or lunar event is tied to all three, and some events do not occur at high latitudes on a given date.
- What the result cannot establish
- A calculated event assumes the model's horizon and atmospheric conventions. Buildings, terrain and local weather can alter what you observe.
Coverage: Worldwide. Search, basemap and external data requests may use third-party services; browser-based does not mean every operation is offline. Read the source and licence notes, calculation methodology and privacy policy. If a result looks inconsistent, report a correction with the inputs and mode used.
Frequently asked questions
Clear answers about the calculation, accuracy and appropriate use.
Why can moonrise or moonset be missing?
At some latitudes and dates the Moon can remain above or below the horizon for the whole UTC day, so one of the events may not occur.
Are the times exact?
They are planning-grade estimates. The calculation samples apparent lunar altitude through the day; local terrain, refraction and the simplified lunar theory can shift observed times by several minutes.
Are the times shown in local time?
Yes. The selected coordinates are resolved to an IANA time zone and event times are formatted in that zone.
What is upper transit?
Upper transit is approximately when the Moon reaches its greatest altitude above the horizon during the selected day.
Is Moon phase location-specific?
The phase and illuminated fraction are essentially global at a given instant, while rise, set and altitude depend strongly on location.
Why is there no moonrise on my date?
About once a month for each event: the Moon's ~50-minute daily delay pushes a rise past midnight, so one calendar date gets none and the next gets a very early one. It is the calendar's edge, not missing data.
How accurate are these times?
The underlying model is a truncated lunar theory sampled at five-minute intervals — fine for planning, typically within 10–20 minutes of almanac values. Almanac-grade work uses full ephemerides.
What is upper transit good for?
Transit is the Moon's highest point — best altitude for observing, and the reference moment around which rise and set arrange themselves. Anglers' solunar major periods key off transits (and the opposite, lower transit).
Why do rise times jump around near the poles?
At high latitudes the Moon can stay up (or down) for days around its declination extremes — the lunar version of polar day. Missing events there are geometry, reported honestly.
Does the Moon rise exactly in the east?
Only near the equinoxes. Its rising point swings along the horizon with its declination — up to ±28.6° of latitude worth of swing, wider than the Sun's. The compass point varies monthly, which ruin-alignment hunters know well.
Refraction and the disc — included?
Event definitions use the Moon's upper limb at the horizon with standard refraction, the almanac convention — the same care the sunrise definition takes, applied to a moving target with parallax, which the model handles approximately.
Can I get times for a whole month?
Day by day here; the Moon Phase Calendar Map gives the month's phases alongside, and pairing the two — phase for the what, this page for the when — covers a month of planning.
Related tools and resources
Live position: the Moon Position Map; the phase: the Moon Phase Calculator; brightness: the Moon Illumination Calculator; the Sun's hours: the Sunrise Sunset Calculator.
More free tools
Sources, methodology & editorial trust
- ✓ Browser-first processing where supported
- ✓ External sources are documented
- ✓ No account required for public tools
- ✓ Review data sources
Calculations are documented with their assumptions, limitations and source context rather than presented as unexplained answers.
Reviewed and maintained by Aryan Khan, Founder & Editor of MapBench.
Part of our sun & moon hub
Moonrise and Moonset Calculator sits in the sun & moon cluster, alongside 27 other tools that answer neighbouring questions with different methods or datasets.
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When this answer is only part of the job, these clusters cover the next step.
Read the guide behind this tool
Full Moon Moonrise Times for 100 US Cities (2026–2027) — Moonrise time for every full moon, Oct 2026–Dec 2027, for America's 100 largest cities — including a Christmas Eve 2026 supermoon.