Moonset times by date are one of the fastest ways to decide whether the Moon will brighten your sky, frame a photo, or clear out before a deep-sky observing session. The key operational fact: there is no single moonset time for an entire date. Your latitude, longitude, time zone, horizon, and the Moon’s changing orbit all move the result.
| Moonset timing factor | Typical value | Unit | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon’s eastward orbital motion | 13.2 | degrees per day | Makes lunar rise and set times later on most dates |
| Average daily shift | 50 | minutes later | A useful planning estimate, not a fixed rule |
| Lunar phase cycle | 29.53059 | days | Repeats the broad relationship between phase and set time |
| Moon-Earth distance range | 363,300-405,500 | km | Slightly affects the Moon’s apparent size and its exact motion |
Why moonset shifts from one date to the next
The stars rise and set about 4 minutes earlier each night because Earth completes one rotation relative to them in roughly 23 hours 56 minutes. The Moon has a different schedule. While Earth rotates, the Moon is also traveling eastward around Earth at about 13.2 degrees per day. Earth must rotate a little farther to bring the Moon back to the same position in your sky.
That is why the familiar rule of thumb is that moonrise and moonset occur about 50 minutes later each day. It is a great quick estimate for a two-night camping trip or an evening photo plan. It is not precise enough for a narrow landscape composition, a telescope session, or an eclipse timetable. The actual shift can be noticeably smaller or larger, especially at higher latitudes.
The Moon’s phase supplies the other half of the schedule. A new Moon travels near the Sun and usually sets close to sunset. A first-quarter Moon is highest around sunset and tends to set near local midnight. A full Moon rises near sunset and sets near sunrise. A last-quarter Moon generally remains up through the morning and sets around local noon.
Those are local solar-time patterns, not promises of a specific clock reading. Civil time adds time zones and daylight saving time, while your horizon adds another layer of real-world variation.
Moonset times by date depend on your location
A moonset entry is only useful when it is tied to an observing location. A time calculated for Miami will not match Denver, Seattle, or Boston, even on the same calendar date. Longitude alone can create a difference of nearly 4 minutes for every degree traveled east or west. Latitude changes the angle at which the Moon crosses the horizon, which can alter the daily timing pattern even more dramatically.
This is especially visible in Alaska and the northern tier of the United States. During some parts of the lunar month, the Moon can trace a shallow path that keeps it near the horizon for a long time. In other seasons, it rises and sets at a steep angle. The roughly 50-minute rule may miss the mark by a meaningful amount.
Your local horizon matters too. Most astronomical listings define moonset near the moment the Moon’s upper edge appears to meet a level, unobstructed horizon. A ridge, apartment tower, forest line, or nearby hill can hide it early. A 1-degree-high obstruction can shift the visible disappearance by roughly 4 to 10 minutes, depending on the Moon’s path and your latitude.
For a clean result, use the coordinates of the actual observing site rather than the center of the nearest major city. This matters for shorelines, mountain overlooks, and eclipse travel. A location 20 miles away may share the same time zone but have a different horizon and several minutes of difference in its calculated Moon timing.
Date labels: local date versus UTC
Astronomy data frequently uses Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC. That is ideal for global orbital data, but it can cause trouble when you are planning from a US calendar. A moonset at 00:20 UTC can still fall on the previous evening in the continental United States.
Always check two labels before heading outside: the displayed time zone and the calendar date attached to that time zone. If a tool shows UTC, convert it before deciding whether the Moon sets late Friday night or early Saturday morning. During daylight saving time, Eastern Daylight Time is UTC-4, Central Daylight Time is UTC-5, Mountain Daylight Time is UTC-6, and Pacific Daylight Time is UTC-7.
Use the lunar phase as a fast planning filter
If you do not yet need minute-level precision, phase tells you whether moonset is likely to help or hurt your session. A waxing crescent leaves the evening sky relatively early. That makes it a strong companion for twilight photography, but it can still brighten the western sky for the first part of a stargazing session.
Near first quarter, the Moon remains present through much of the evening. It is excellent for binocular and telescope views of craters along the terminator, where shadows sharpen lunar terrain. It is less helpful if your target is a faint galaxy or a wide Milky Way panorama.
The full Moon is the bright-sky heavyweight. Because it typically sets around sunrise, it will usually remain above the horizon for most or all of the night. For deep-sky observers, the better strategy is often to switch targets: observe the Moon itself, bright planets, double stars, or open clusters rather than fighting moonlight.
After full Moon, conditions improve night by night for evening observers because the Moon rises later and the waxing? Actually after full Moon the Moon is waning and rises later, leaving early evening darker. By last quarter, it is primarily a pre-dawn object. That makes the period from late waning crescent through the first few nights after new Moon especially useful for dark evening skies.
A real calendar example: the August 2026 lunar cycle
August 12, 2026, brought a new Moon and a total solar eclipse along a path crossing parts of Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. New Moon is the one phase when the Moon is closest to the Sun in the sky, so moonset occurs around sunset rather than serving as a nighttime event for most observers.
By the evening of August 13, a thin waxing crescent was positioned just east of the Sun and set shortly after sunset for many US locations. Each following evening, the Moon stayed above the western horizon longer. This is the visual rhythm behind date-based moonset tables: the Moon does not merely repeat a clock time. It advances across the sky and changes the entire character of the evening.
Around the August 28 full Moon, the pattern reversed. The Moon was near the horizon around sunrise on the following morning for many locations, while evenings were dominated by a bright rising Moon. Exact dates and clock times still needed local calculation, but the phase sequence made the broad behavior predictable well before observing night.
How to read a moonset forecast without getting fooled
Start with the date and location, then confirm the time zone. Next, check the Moon’s illumination percentage and altitude at the beginning of your session. A Moon that sets at 10:15 PM may not be a problem if it is only 4 degrees above the horizon at 9:45 PM and blocked by terrain. Conversely, a Moon at 35 degrees altitude can wash out the sky long before its listed set time.
For astrophotography, allow a buffer after moonset. The Moon may be below the geometric horizon, but scattered light and bright twilight can still affect a wide-angle exposure. A practical buffer is 20 to 30 minutes after moonset for dark-sky work, longer if the Moon was bright and low haze is present. For lunar photography, do the opposite: begin at least 30 minutes before moonset so you have time to assess focus, exposure, and foreground alignment.
At SpaceInformer, the most useful workflow is to pair a date-based Moon forecast with a live sky view. The forecast gives you the schedule; altitude and azimuth show where the Moon will actually be relative to your roofline, mountain ridge, or planned foreground.
The next time a promising clear-sky window appears, do not just ask whether the Moon is up. Check when it sets, how high it is before then, and which local date your forecast is using. That small mission-control check can turn an uncertain night outside into a precisely timed skywatching window.