The moon

Moonrise and moonset

Moonrise and moonset come about fifty minutes later each day, as the moon moves along its orbit.

A full moon rises near sunset; a new moon near sunrise; a first-quarter moon is high at dusk and sets around midnight.

The moon tonight

Golden hour, the twilights and the moon, where you stand.

Sol for iPhone is coming soon, with each of them for the place you stand, on your phone and your wrist.

Moonrise and moonset, where you stand.

You stand at the middle of your horizon. The dots are the moon’s path tonight, the moon lit as it is; the stage opens three hours after sunset. Slide through the night, or drag the sky to turn it.

How Sol measures it.

The moon orbits eastward about 13° a day, so the Earth must turn that much further to bring it back to the horizon — about fifty minutes, less near the autumn equinox when the moon's path lies flat to the horizon, which is the harvest moon's small delay. The drawing shows why the phase fixes the hour: the moon's place on its orbit is its place in the night.

Make time for the light.

Sol for iPhone is coming soon, with golden hour, the twilights and the moon for wherever you stand. Leave your address for early access and one email when it ships.

All thirty words of light