You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.
From MoonGiant.com
The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waning Crescent phase. This phase is best viewed just before the sunrise in the western sky. In this phase the Moon’s illumination is growing smaller each day until the New Moon. During this part of the Moon cycle, the Moon is getting closer to the Sun as viewed from Earth and the night side of the Moon is facing the Earth with only a small edge of the Moon being illuminated. It can also be a great time to see the features of the Moon’s surface. Along the edge where the illuminated portion meets the dark side, the craters and mountains cast long shadows making them easier to observe with a telescope or binoculars.
Visit the May 2023 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.
Today’s Waning Crescent Phase
The Waning Crescent on May 18 has an illumination of 2%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On May 18 the Moon is 28.37 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.
Phase Details
Illumination: 2%
Moon Age: 28.37 days
Moon Angle: 0.52
Moon Distance: 382,732.95 km
Sun Angle: 0.53
Sun Distance: 151,336,307.67 km
The 8 Lunar Phases
There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.
Useful Moon Resources
Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com
For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society
If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link
Currentplanetarypositions.com
To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link
For Your Local Time and Date
Northwestern Hemisphere
This local time is in Los Angeles, California, USA
May 18, 2023
11:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM PDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)
Moon:19 Taurus 12
Mercury:06 Taurus 25
Venus:12 Cancer 15
Mars:29 Cancer 02
Jupiter:00 Taurus 31
Saturn:06 Pisces 29
Uranus:19 Taurus 28
Neptune:27 Pisces 12
Pluto:00 Aquarius 18 Rx
True Lunar Node:03 Taurus 59 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:02 Taurus 54 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):14 Leo 37
Chiron:18 Aries 14
Ceres:24 Virgo 18
Pallas:06 Leo 45
Juno:09 Gemini 53
Vesta:14 Taurus 56
Eris:24 Aries 56
Earth:9
Air:2
Water:4
Fixed:11
Mutable:4
Northern Hemisphere
This local time is in Chicago, Illinois, USA
May 18, 2023
09:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)
Moon:18 Taurus 07
Mercury:06 Taurus 23
Venus:12 Cancer 10
Mars:28 Cancer 59
Jupiter:00 Taurus 29
Saturn:06 Pisces 29
Uranus:19 Taurus 28
Neptune:27 Pisces 12
Pluto:00 Aquarius 18 Rx
True Lunar Node:03 Taurus 59 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:02 Taurus 54 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):14 Leo 36
Chiron:18 Aries 14
Ceres:24 Virgo 18
Pallas:06 Leo 43
Juno:09 Gemini 50
Vesta:14 Taurus 54
Eris:24 Aries 56
Earth:9
Air:2
Water:4
Fixed:11
Mutable:4
Northeastern Hemisphere
This local time is in Frankfurt, Germany, Europe
18 May 2023
02:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CEST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)
Moon:14 Taurus 15
Mercury:06 Taurus 18
Venus:11 Cancer 51
Mars:28 Cancer 50
Jupiter:00 Taurus 25
Saturn:06 Pisces 28
Uranus:19 Taurus 27
Neptune:27 Pisces 11
Pluto:00 Aquarius 18 Rx
True Lunar Node:04 Taurus 00 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:02 Taurus 55 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):14 Leo 34
Chiron:18 Aries 13
Ceres:24 Virgo 17
Pallas:06 Leo 36
Juno:09 Gemini 40
Vesta:14 Taurus 46
Eris:24 Aries 55
Earth:9
Air:2
Water:4
Fixed:11
Mutable:4
Witches Of The Craft® 