December 11 and 12, 2023 Current Moon Phase for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

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.

Source: MoonGiant.com

Northern Hemisphere

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 December 2023 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waning Crescent Phase

The Waning Crescent on December 11 has an illumination of 3%. 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 December 11 the Moon is 27.99 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

Phase: Waning Crescent
Illumination: 3%
Moon Age: 27.99 days
Moon Angle: 0.52
Moon Distance: 385,675.90 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 147,296,657.60 km

Useful Moon Resources

Southern Hemisphere

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a New Moon phase. During this phase the Moon is too close to the sun in the sky to be visible. The moon rises and sets with the sun and is not present in the night sky. Because of this the night sky is darker and an excellent time to view other celestial objects. Like the Full Moon, a New Moon happens at a very specific time when the sun and moon have the same ecliptic longitude and it can be measured down to the second it occurs.

Visit the December 2023 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s New Moon Phase

The New Moon on December 12 has an illumination of 0%. 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 December 12 the Moon is 29.02 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

Phase: New Moon
Illumination: 0%
Moon Age: 29.02 days
Moon Angle: 0.52
Moon Distance: 380,804.76 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 147,279,921.80 km

Useful Moon Resources