Compare the Moon from different cities

Choose up to four cities and see the same Moon from each: the evening the new crescent can first be seen, the Moon on any date, and the eclipses each place will see.

How to use the comparison

Remove a city with its ×, or add one with “Add a city” (up to four). New crescent shows the three evenings after a new moon: for each city, the verdict of the Odeh criterion used by the International Astronomy Center and of the Yallop criterion used by HM Nautical Almanac Office, the times of sunset and moonset, and a small drawing of the western sky at the best time to look. Date and time shows where the Moon is in each city at any moment you choose, as your own time, each city’s own clock or UTC, with its phase and the times it rises and sets. Eclipses shows which of the coming eclipses each city will see. The address of the page keeps your choice, so you can share it.

Is the Moon phase the same everywhere?

Yes. The phase depends only on where the Moon is in its orbit compared with the Sun, so at any moment everyone on Earth sees the same part of it lit, and a full moon is full at the same instant all over the world. What changes from place to place is the local date and clock time of that instant, and which way up the Moon looks: seen from the southern hemisphere it is upside down compared with the northern, so a young crescent is lit on the left instead of the right.

Why the new crescent is often seen first further west

A new crescent is hard to see because it is thin and close to the Sun. Every hour the Moon moves about half a degree further from the Sun, and the crescent grows. Sunset reaches places further west later, so when the Sun sets there the Moon is older and further from the Sun. That is why the Americas can see a crescent on an evening when it is impossible in Asia. Latitude and season matter too: the angle the Moon’s path makes with the horizon decides how long it stays up after sunset, which is why London can be a day behind Mecca and Karachi even though it lies further west than both.

Eid al-Fitr 1448: Saudi Arabia, Morocco, the UK and Pakistan

The new moon that ends Ramadan 1448 comes on the morning of Monday 8 March 2027 (UTC). That evening the crescent cannot be seen from any of these four countries, while on Tuesday 9 March it is easy to see in all of them. The printed Umm al-Qura calendar still gives Tuesday 9 March for Eid; where Eid follows a sighting, it is likely to be Wednesday 10 March. Read the full comparison, city by city, in Eid al-Fitr 2027: will the Shawwal crescent be seen on 8 March?

How we calculate

All the numbers come from the same engine as the rest of the site. Positions of the Sun and the Moon are calculated with Astronomy Engine for each city’s latitude, longitude and height, with times in the city’s own time zone. A new crescent is judged at the best time to look, four ninths of the way from sunset to moonset, by the Odeh (2006) and Yallop (1997) criteria. The Umm al-Qura dates follow the calendar’s published rule. Eclipse times and the fraction of the Sun covered are calculated for each city. Weather is not included. More in how we calculate.

Questions people ask