Moon Calendar: Monthly and Yearly Moon Phases

Explore the Moon’s changing shape with our interactive moon calendar. View daily phases, find full moon and new moon dates, and switch between monthly and yearly calendars. Choose your city, adjust the display, and download a printable calendar in PDF, Word or Excel.

How to use the moon calendar

Start with the month you want to explore, or choose the yearly view to see the bigger picture.

1. Choose your city. Enter a city, state or country in the search box, then select the matching city from the suggestions. Check the state and country when several places share a name.
2. Select a month and year. Use the selectors and navigation arrows to browse the available dates. Switch to the yearly view to compare all twelve months.
3. Make it yours. Choose a Sunday or Monday week start and use the display options to adjust phase labels, highlighted dates and space for notes.
4. Save your calendar. Print it, save a PDF, download an editable Word or Excel file, or create a calendar wallpaper for your desktop.

Click a date to see its selected-day details. For the current phase and local viewing times, visit Moon Phase Today.

Reading your moon phase calendar

Each date shows a Moon image and an illumination percentage. The image gives a quick view of its shape; the percentage describes how much of the visible lunar disk is sunlit.

The four principal phases are New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon and Last Quarter. These mark key points in the lunar cycle. Between them, the Moon passes through crescent and gibbous phases. “Waxing” means the illuminated portion is growing; “waning” means it is shrinking.

Use the highlighted dates and their color key to find the principal phases quickly. The monthly view helps you follow day-to-day changes, while the yearly view makes it easier to compare dates across the year.

Understanding the Lunar Cycle

The moon doesn’t produce its own light; it reflects the sun. As the moon orbits Earth, the amount of sunlight hitting its surface changes, creating the different lunar cycle moon phases. A complete lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days to finish. If you are following a current moon calendar, you will see these main lunar cycle phases unfold:

• New Moon: The moon is between the Earth and the Sun, making it virtually invisible from our viewpoint.
• Waxing Crescent to Waxing Gibbous: The illuminated portion of the moon grows larger each night.
• Full Moon: The Earth sits right between the Sun and the Moon, giving us a fully illuminated, bright lunar disk.
• Waning Gibbous to Waning Crescent: The illuminated portion shrinks back down until it disappears into the next New Moon.

Download a printable moon calendar

The monthly print layout uses a landscape page. The yearly layout brings all twelve months together on one portrait page. Before printing, check the preview and use the matching orientation. If you use US Letter paper instead of A4, choose a fit-to-page setting to keep the edges inside the printable area.

Plan observations and keep a moon journal

A calendar makes it easy to choose a few dates to look outside and compare what you see. Note the Moon’s shape, the time of your observation and whether clouds affected the view. Repeating this over several weeks helps you spot patterns that are easy to miss from a single night’s observation.

You can also use the calendar to plan a classroom activity, mark a full moon evening or keep a record of photographs. Check local moonrise and moonset times on the Today page before making viewing plans. A phase date alone does not tell you when the Moon will be above your horizon.

Moon Calendar – FAQ