Moon Live Tracker

Where is the Moon right now?

The Live Tracker shows the Moon's current sidereal position — computed from the Swiss Ephemeris DE431 dataset at the exact moment you load this page. The Moon moves ~13° per day — the fastest of all classical grahas — so the display genuinely refreshes with meaningful shifts even minute-to-minute. A single sign visit is only ~2.25 days, and a single nakshatra visit is about a day.

What each field means

• Sign (Rashi) — the sidereal zodiac sign the Moon currently occupies. In Vedic astrology this is the Chandra Rashi and often used as the primary lens for daily forecasting.
• Nakshatra & Pada — the specific lunar mansion and quarter (of 27 nakshatras × 4 padas). The Moon's nakshatra is the janma-nakshatra proxy used in daily panchang and choghadiya calculations.
• Degree — exact sidereal longitude within the sign in degrees ° minutes' seconds".
• Sign entry / exit times — the exact moments the Moon entered its current sign and will exit to the next one, in your local timezone. Because Moon sign visits are only ~2.25 days, these boundaries are often within the same day or the very next one.

The Moon & panchang

The Moon's nakshatra is the foundation of the classical five-limb (pancha-anga) daily calendar: it determines Nakshatra Yoga pairings, feeds into Tithi calculation (via the Moon-Sun angular difference), and anchors the daily choghadiya Muhurta divisions. If you're checking today's live nakshatra to align with a panchang publication, the Moon Live Tracker is the source you want.

Moon Phase — Waxing, Waning, and the Paksha

The Moon Phase field on this tracker shows where the Moon sits in its ~29.5-day cycle relative to the Sun. This is derived from the tithi — the current lunar day — and mapped to the standard eight-phase model.

Vedic tradition splits the cycle in two halves called paksha:

• Shukla Paksha (शुक्ल पक्ष) — the waxing fortnight, 15 tithis from New Moon to Full Moon. The Moon grows brighter each day. Traditionally auspicious for new beginnings, marriages, launches, and any growth-oriented activity.
• Krishna Paksha (कृष्ण पक्ष) — the waning fortnight, 15 tithis from Full Moon to New Moon. The Moon grows dimmer each day. Traditionally favoured for completions, ancestor rites (Shraddha), releasing what no longer serves, and inward reflection.

The eight phases within these two fortnights:

• New Moon (Amavasya) — 0% illumination. Moon is aligned with the Sun. End of Krishna Paksha; start of Shukla Paksha immediately after.
• Waxing Crescent — 1–49% illumination, growing. The first seven tithis of Shukla Paksha, Pratipad through Saptami.
• First Quarter — ~50% illumination, growing. Around Shukla Ashtami (8th lunar day). Half-lit on the right side.
• Waxing Gibbous — 51–99% illumination, growing. Shukla Navami through Chaturdashi.
• Full Moon (Purnima) — 100% illumination. Moon is directly opposite the Sun. End of Shukla Paksha; start of Krishna Paksha immediately after. Considered highly auspicious for spiritual practices, vratas, and Satya Narayan puja.
• Waning Gibbous — 99–51% illumination, shrinking. First tithis of Krishna Paksha.
• Last Quarter — ~50% illumination, shrinking. Around Krishna Ashtami. Half-lit on the left side.
• Waning Crescent — 49–1% illumination, shrinking. Final tithis of Krishna Paksha, ending at Amavasya.

The % illumination shown next to the phase is a fraction indicator — it’s the visible lit portion of the Moon’s disc as seen from Earth. Because the Moon moves ~13° per day and the Moon-Sun separation changes ~12° per day (Sun also moves ~1°/day), illumination shifts by roughly 6–8% every 24 hours.

Why the Moon doesn't retrograde or combust

Unlike Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the Moon never retrogrades in geocentric view — its motion is always forward. Classical Vedic astrology also does not consider the Moon combust in daily practice, even though the Moon technically comes near the Sun each month (the Amavasya conjunction). "Chandra Asta" is a phase concept, not a daily-tracking flag, so it's not surfaced here.

Common questions this page answers

This page answers “right now” questions — no date to enter, no target to pick. Typical phrasings:

• Where is the Moon right now? — the readout gives the Moon’s exact sidereal longitude, rashi, nakshatra, and pada at this moment, recomputed each time you load the page.
• Which nakshatra is the Moon in today? — the current nakshatra plus its ruling planet and presiding deity. Because the Moon changes nakshatra roughly every 24 hours, the answer genuinely differs day to day.
• What rashi is the Moon in right now? — the current Chandra Rashi. The Moon stays ~2.25 days per sign, so this changes every couple of days.
• What is today’s tithi? — the current lunar day, derived from the Moon-Sun angular separation.
• When does the Moon change sign or nakshatra next? — the card shows the exact upcoming entry and exit moments in your local timezone.
• Is the Moon exalted or debilitated right now? — the dignity readout flags Taurus 0°00'00"–3°00'00" (exalted), Taurus 3°00'01"–29°59'59" (moolatrikona), Cancer (own sign), and Scorpio (debilitated) placements. Peak exaltation and peak debilitation are the exact degree 3°00'00" in Taurus and Scorpio respectively — about 2 seconds each.

For a different date rather than right now, use the Date Lookup tool. To find when the Moon will next be in a specific nakshatra or rashi, use Find Dates.

Related tools

• Date Lookup — the Moon's complete readout at local sunrise for any past or future date. Verify your janma-nakshatra or check any historical date.
• Find Nakshatra / Rashi Dates — reverse lookup. Pick a nakshatra (Rohini, Pushya, Vishakha, Anuradha…) or rashi and get every upcoming Moon window in the next 180 days.
• Chandra Rashi Peyarchi (Year Timeline) — also called Chandra Peyarchi. Every Moon sign visit for a chosen year as a card, with nested nakshatra sub-events. Use the arrows to view any past or future year, from 13,201 BCE onward.
• Nakshatra Peyarchi (Monthly Calendar) — every Moon-nakshatra entry across a whole month as a chronological card list with pada-level start / end times and classical Muhurta flags on each card: Gand Mool, Panchak window, Sarvartha Siddhi Yoga, and Yamaghantak Yoga. Best for month-at-a-glance muhurta planning.
• Panchak Calendar — every Panchak window in a chosen year (13–14 windows / year, ~5 days each) with its window-wide sub-type — Rog, Raj, Agni, Chor, Mrityu, or Neutral — determined by the weekday Panchak starts on. Useful for avoiding the classical five prohibitions (roof laying, wood collection, cremation, bed-making, southward travel) during the ~60–70 Panchak days each year.