Full moon tonight, or last night?
Tonight – January 24, 2016 – many will look outside and think they’re seeing a full moon. In fact, they’re seeing a waning moon.
According to astronomers, those sticklers for detail, there’s only one instant when the moon turns precisely full. It’s when when the moon is 180o opposite the sun in ecliptic longitude.
It’s the same instant worldwide, and, for us in the Americas, it was last night. That is, this month’s moon turned precisely full on January 24, 2016, at 1:46 Universal Time. According to clocks in the Americas, it was January 23 at 8:46 p.m. EST, 7:46 p.m CST, 6:46 p.m. MST and 5:46 p.m. PST.
So the moon is one day past full as it beams at early evening on January 24. No matter. The waning gibbous moon will still appear plenty full to the eye.
Want more precision? The lunar disk is 98.9% illuminated by sunshine on January 25 at 1:46 Universal Time (North American time zones: January 24 at 8:46 p.m. EST, 7:46 p.m CST, 6:46 p.m. MST and 5:46 p.m. PST).
Click here and you can also find that the waxing gibbous moon was 98.9% illuminated one day before the January, 2016, full moon (January 23 at 1:46 Universal Time).
So, no matter where you live on the globe, watch for a full-looking – but possibly already waning – moon to light up the nighttime nearly all night long. Tonight’s moon shines in the east at early evening, climbs highest up for the night around midnight and sits low in the west at the break of dawn.
Bottom line: There’s only one instant when the moon turns precisely full in January, 2016. It’s the same instant worldwide. That instant occurred on January 24, 2016, at 1:46 Universal Time. For us in the Americas, it was last night.
Author
Bruce McClure
Bruce McClure is the chief writer for the popular EarthSky Tonight pages. Since joining EarthSky in 2004, he has written thousands of astronomy articles, enjoyed here by millions. He also writes, gives planetarium shows and hosts a wide assortment of public astronomy programs in and around his home in upstate New York. If you ask an astronomy question on our site, it’s likely to be Bruce that answers it. His love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, and he has sailed the North Atlantic, earning his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. Bruce is also a sundial aficionado. He says his number one passion – besides his wife Alice – is stargazing.
Article published on EarthSky
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