Space
Earth and Moon
Where it is day and where it is night, what the Moon looks like, why seasons change and when the next eclipse will be. Everything is calculated for the real time – use the slider to move up to a year forward or back. Times are shown in Central European time (Prague).
Earth – day and night
The Moon from Europe
View from above (not to scale)
Moon phases
The Moon orbits Earth in 27.3 days, but the same phase returns only after 29.5 days, because Earth moves along its orbit around the Sun in the meantime. Half of the Moon is always lit; depending on where we look from, we see more or less of that half.
| Next phases | Date and time |
|---|
Seasons
Earth's axis is tilted by 23.4°. Over the year the northern and then the southern hemisphere leans towards the Sun: in summer sunlight arrives more directly and for longer, in winter at a low angle and briefly. Distance from the Sun plays no role – Earth is closest to it in early January.
| This year | Date and time |
|---|
Upcoming eclipses
An eclipse happens only when the Moon is new or full and at the same time close to where its orbit crosses the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun – the Moon's orbit is tilted by about 5°. That is why eclipses do not happen every month, only two to five times a year.
| Date | Type | Moon from the ecliptic |
|---|
Approximate calculation from the Moon's position (accuracy of hours); it does not determine where exactly the eclipse will be visible.