Moon Phase for August 2, 3695

This page is a live city snapshot of the Moon: illumination percentage, moon age in days, phase angle, zodiac sign, and moonrise and moonset for the selected place and date. It answers “what does the Moon look like from here, now (or on the date I picked)?” It is not a month grid, not a named-phase upcoming list, and not a year roster of full moons.

Illumination measures how much of the near side is lit by the Sun. Moon age counts days since the previous new moon. Those two numbers move together on the synodic cycle, which is a little longer than the Moon’s 27.3-day sidereal orbit because Earth itself is moving around the Sun. That extra length is why phases drift relative to the civil calendar and why some months in 3695 contain two full moons.

What the city card reports

The hero values are computed for the city in the location control. Change the city to match the horizon you actually see; the choice is remembered for 30 days in the browser. A preset far from your coordinates will still produce a pretty disc, but rise and set will belong to someone else’s sky. Custom coordinates exist for the same reason: a park 80 km from the named city can differ by minutes on the clock.

Zodiac here is an astronomical ecliptic longitude label, not a horoscope reading. It is included because many almanacs print it beside phase. Treat it as a sky coordinate nickname. The phase name, illumination, and rise/set rows are the planning fields; the sign is optional color for people who already think in those terms.

Moonrise, moonset, and odd horizons

Rise and set depend on latitude, longitude, date, and a sea-level geometric horizon. Hills, trees, and buildings still hide the Moon for extra minutes. At high latitudes the Moon can stay above or below the horizon all day—circumpolar motion—so a row may read as “up all day” or “no rise” instead of a clock time. That is geometry, not a missing data bug.

Near new moon a thin crescent may set shortly after sunset and vanish in bright twilight. Near full moon, rise occurs close to sunset and the disc stays visible most of the night. Line the lunar clock up against sunrise and sunset when a photograph needs warm horizon light while the Moon is still low. Use dawn and dusk when civil or astronomical twilight is the real constraint.

Phase angle, illumination, and moon age

Phase angle is the Sun–Earth–Moon elongation in degrees. Near 0° the Moon is new; near 90° first quarter; near 180° full; near 270° last quarter. Illumination rises through waxing stages and falls through waning stages. Named labels—crescent, quarter, gibbous, full—group those numbers into the eight skywatching categories. Moon age is a clock since new moon: day 0–1 is new, day 7-ish is first quarter, day 14–15 is usually near full, then the count climbs toward the next new moon.

Moon age does not reset on the first of a civil month. A “day 3 moon” in late January is unrelated to January 3. Time zones can also slide the calendar date of maximum illumination: the same UTC instant is Tuesday evening in one city and Wednesday morning in another. When a class or a livestream needs a shared instant, quote UTC as well as the local card.

Upcoming major phases from this moment

The table lists the next new, first quarter, full, and last quarter moons counting forward from the selected date. Those four instants are the almanac corners. Intermediate names (crescents and gibbous stages) still happen in between; they simply are not the rows in this short table. For a full month of daily discs, open the moon phases hub. For every full moon date in 3695, use the year list rather than paging this today view day by day.

Countdowns on the hub are a convenience. If a permit or a printer proof needs a locked civil date, open that date’s card and read the local weekday. Social posts that copy a UTC table without a city routinely advertise the wrong evening.

When to look up tonight

Thin crescents are easiest just after sunset (waxing) or just before sunrise (waning), when the sky is dim but the horizon is dark enough to show the lit edge. Full moons are the easiest casual target: they rise near sunset and stay up. Check moonrise before packing a telescope—an 8:00 p.m. club meeting is pointless if the Moon is still down. Estimates on this page use standard astronomical formulas aligned with the monthly lunar calendar elsewhere on the site; they are not a substitute for an observatory ephemeris when a paper needs arcseconds.

Stargazing groups that want dark skies should shortlist dates with moon age under about two days and illumination near zero, then check clouds separately. Bright moonlight washes out the Milky Way even when the air is dry. Conversely, moonlight walks want the opposite card: high illumination and an early rise. Read the numbers; do not assume “weekend” equals “good moon.”

Limits and honest use

Results are for education, photography planning, and casual skywatching. They are not religious determinations of a new month and not legal timestamps. Weather, wildfire smoke, and light pollution are outside the model. If the disc says 12% and you see nothing, the usual causes are twilight, haze, or a blocked horizon—not a broken percentage.

Refresh after changing city or date rather than screenshotting an old card from earlier in 3695. The Moon will not match a photo taken on a different night even if the phase name is the same. For apparent size headlines, open moon distance; this today page answers appearance and rise, not kilometers.

Jump to other lunar zooms

Browse all full moons in 3695 when the question is the year’s bright nights, stay on this card when the question is tonight, and use the hub month grid when the question is how illumination marches across a civil month.