Moon Position Map & Sub-Lunar Point

Where is the Moon right now? Altitude and azimuth explained

Unlike distant stars or even the Sun, calculating the exact position of the Moon in the night sky is one of the most complex challenges in classical celestial mechanics. The Moon orbits the Earth at a mean distance of only 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles)—astronomically close compared to the 149.6 million kilometers separating Earth from the Sun.

To pinpoint the Moon from your current location, celestial engines evaluate four fundamental parameters:

• Lunar Altitude (α): The vertical angle above the true horizontal horizon (-90° to +90°).
• Lunar Azimuth (A): The horizontal compass direction measured clockwise from True North (000° to 360°).
• Lunar Distance (d): The instantaneous center-to-center distance between Earth and Moon in kilometers.
• Parallactic Angle (q): The angle between the celestial pole and the zenith as viewed through the Moon's center, governing the apparent tilt of the lunar crescent.

How far away is the Moon? Perigee, apogee and supermoons

The Moon does not circle Earth in a neat concentric circle; its orbit is an eccentric ellipse (e ≈ 0.0549) subject to constant gravitational tugs from the Sun:

Why the Moon’s position depends on where you stand

In solar calculations, observing from Earth's surface versus its center causes a tiny angular shift of only 8.8 arcseconds. But for the Moon, this effect—known as topocentric parallax—is massive.

Because Earth's radius (~6,378 km) represents a substantial fraction (roughly 1/60th) of the total distance to the Moon, an observer standing on Earth's surface views the Moon from a shifted vantage point compared to an imaginary observer at the center of the Earth:

This shift reaches up to 61.5 arcminutes (1.025 degrees) when the Moon is on the horizon. Because the apparent diameter of the Moon is only about 31 arcminutes (0.52°), topocentric parallax displaces the Moon in the sky by more than two full lunar diameters.

Without topocentric parallax corrections, solar eclipse predictions would fail completely: a total solar eclipse occurring directly overhead for an observer in Texas would be predicted as completely missing the Sun if calculated geocentrically.

How the parallax correction is calculated

To convert the theoretical geocentric altitude α_geo into the actual topocentric altitude α_topo seen by the observer, geodetic ephemeris engines compute the horizontal parallax π_h:

Moon distance and size reference table

Reference this benchmark table illustrating how the Moon's distance governs horizontal parallax, apparent size, and tidal gravity across its orbital extremes:

The 18.6-year cycle and the major lunar standstill

The Moon's path across the sky changes dramatically over multi-year periods due to the 18.61-year precession of its orbital nodes:

• Orbital Inclination (5.14°): The Moon's orbit is tilted by 5.14 degrees relative to Earth's orbital plane (the ecliptic). Because Earth's axis is already tilted by 23.44 degrees, the Moon's maximum monthly declination oscillates over an 18.6-year cycle.
• Major Lunar Standstill: When the Moon's tilt adds directly to Earth's tilt (23.44° + 5.14° = 28.58°), the Moon reaches extreme northern and southern declinations (±28.6°). During this phase (recently occurring in 2024–2025), the Moon rises farther north and south on the horizon than the Sun ever can. Ancient stone circles like Stonehenge and Callanish were built specifically to track these 18.6-year standstill alignments.
• Minor Lunar Standstill: 9.3 years later, the inclinations subtract (23.44° - 5.14° = 18.30°), compressing the Moon's monthly rising and setting range into a narrow band of ±18.3°.