ChronoWaves
The daily sweep
Earth's rotation creates the familiar east-to-west motion shared by the Sun, Moon and stars.
Moon Path Across Tonight's Sky
Choose a place to trace the Moon from the eastern horizon, through its highest point, towards the west.
Coordinates are used only for this calculation and are not saved by ChronoWaves.
Local altitude
🌙 Calculating the Moon's path
Moonrise—
Highest point—
Peak altitude—
Moonset—
How to read the arc
The sky is a dome above you
Altitude is the angle above the horizon: 0° is the horizon and 90° is directly overhead at the zenith. The curve begins when the Moon rises, crests around upper transit, and ends when it sets.
The Moon generally rises in the eastern half of the sky and sets in the western half, but the exact points and height change with latitude, season and the Moon's shifting orbit. Atmospheric refraction can also alter what is visible very close to the horizon.
Why tonight's path is never quite repeated
About 50 minutes later
The Moon also travels eastward in orbit, so Earth must turn a little farther to bring it back to the same part of the sky.
A different arch
The same Moon can pass high overhead for one observer and skim low above another observer's horizon.
Method background: U.S. Naval Observatory altitude and azimuth service. ChronoWaves samples a low-precision topocentric calculation every 30 minutes; use an observatory-grade service for critical observing or navigation.