MoonPhaseDate

MoonPhaseDate[]

returns the date of the next new moon.

MoonPhaseDate[phase]

returns the date of the next instance of the given phase of the Moon.

MoonPhaseDate[date,phase]

returns the date for the first instance of the given phase after date.

Details and Options

  • The phase of the Moon describes the angle between the Moon and Sun, which determines the apparent shape of the Moon, as observed from the Earth.
  • MoonPhaseDate reports dates of new moons, full moons or any other phase of the Moon.
  • In MoonPhaseDate[phase], the phase can be given as a named case, such as "NewMoon" or "FirstQuarter", an entity such as Entity["MoonPhase","New"], or as a continuous real number with value 0 for a new moon, 0.25 for the first quarter, 0.5 for a full moon, 0.75 for the last quarter and 1 for the following new moon.
  • In MoonPhaseDate[date,phase], date can be any DateObject expression.
  • Options of MoonPhaseDate include:
  • CalendarTypeAutomaticcalendar used to return dates
    DateFormatAutomaticformat used to display output dates
    DateGranularityAutomaticcalendar granularity of output dates
    TimeDirection1whether to return the next or last new moon
    TimeSystemAutomatictime system of output dates
    TimeZone$TimeZonetime zone of output dates

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)

Find the date of the next new moon:

Find the date of the next first quarter:

Find the date of the first new moon after January 1, 2000:

Scope  (2)

Specify the same phase of the Moon in different ways:

Find the date of a given phase of the Moon after some date:

Properties & Relations  (5)

At every new moon, the Sun and the Moon have the same ecliptic longitude:

There will be a solar eclipse if the difference in ecliptic latitude is small enough:

MoonPhaseDate gives the date of a given phase of the Moon:

MoonPhase gives illumination fractions and names:

Entity phases can also be used in MoonPhaseDate:

NewMoon is the particular case of MoonPhaseDate for new moons:

FullMoon is the particular case of MoonPhaseDate for full moons:

Find the date of a random Moon phase value p:

This date can also be obtained using FromLunationNumber, using p as the decimal part of the current integer lunation number:

Wolfram Research (2023), MoonPhaseDate, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MoonPhaseDate.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2023), MoonPhaseDate, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MoonPhaseDate.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2023. "MoonPhaseDate." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MoonPhaseDate.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2023). MoonPhaseDate. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MoonPhaseDate.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2024_moonphasedate, author="Wolfram Research", title="{MoonPhaseDate}", year="2023", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MoonPhaseDate.html}", note=[Accessed: 27-April-2024 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2024_moonphasedate, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={MoonPhaseDate}, year={2023}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MoonPhaseDate.html}, note=[Accessed: 27-April-2024 ]}