Countdown to
The Next New Moon
The new moon is the dark phase, when the Moon rides between Earth and the Sun.
Today is the New Moon.
7 days until the Next New Moon, on Monday, November 9, 2026.
The Next New Moon is Monday, November 9, 2026. Happens at every new Moon, about every 29.5 days (computed astronomically, in UT).
The new moon is the dark phase of the lunar month — the moment the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun and turns its unlit side toward us. For a day or so around it the Moon is lost in the Sun’s glare and effectively invisible, which is why the new moon is the one phase you can never quite see. It also resets the clock on the cycle: from here the Moon waxes through crescent and quarter to full, then wanes back, on an average rhythm of 29.53 days — the synodic month.
How we get this date. The countdown above isn’t read from a printed calendar — it is computed from the Moon’s orbital phase using the method in Jean Meeus’s Astronomical Algorithms (Chapter 49), the standard reference for this calculation and accurate to within a few minutes. Because it comes from the geometry rather than a lookup table, the page keeps itself correct: the instant one new moon passes, the countdown rolls forward to the next.
The new moon is also when solar eclipses become possible. The Moon’s orbit is tilted about five degrees to Earth’s path around the Sun, so most months the new moon slips a little above or below the Sun and nothing happens. Only when a new moon lands near one of the two nodes where those planes cross does the Moon’s shadow reach Earth — which is why eclipses come a few times a year rather than every month. The same darkness that hides the Moon makes the nights around a new moon the best of the month for stargazing.
A timezone note. The new moon is a single instant in Universal Time, not a whole day. Depending on where you are, that instant can fall on the calendar day before or after the UT date. If a wall calendar and this page disagree by a day, that difference is almost always the reason.
🌑 Fun facts about the Next New Moon
- At new moon the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun with its lit side turned away from us, so it is effectively invisible — the one phase you can never actually see.
- The new moon starts the lunar month; the average gap from one new moon to the next is the synodic month of 29.53 days.
- A solar eclipse can only happen at new moon, but not at every one — the Moon's orbit is tilted about 5°, so most months it passes just above or below the Sun.
- The nights around a new moon are the darkest of the month, which makes them the best time to spot faint stars, galaxies, and the Milky Way.
- Many lunar calendars — including the Islamic, Hebrew, and Chinese calendars — begin each month at or just after the new moon.
Upcoming New Moon dates
| Date | Days away |
|---|---|
| 7 days | |
| 37 days | |
| 66 days | |
| 96 days | |
| 126 days |
Frequently asked
When is the next new moon?
The countdown above shows the exact date, computed from the Moon's phase in Universal Time (UT). Because the new moon is a single UT instant, it can land on the previous or next calendar day in your local timezone.
Why can't you see the new moon?
At new moon the Moon is nearly in line with the Sun, with its sunlit hemisphere facing away from Earth. The side turned toward us is in shadow, and the Moon is up during the day close to the Sun's glare — so there is nothing to see.
How is the new moon date calculated?
We compute it directly from the Moon's orbital phase using the method in Jean Meeus's "Astronomical Algorithms" (Chapter 49), accurate to within a few minutes, rather than reading it from a fixed table.
Does a new moon mean a solar eclipse?
Only sometimes. A solar eclipse needs a new moon that also lands near one of the two points where the Moon's tilted orbit crosses Earth's path around the Sun. That alignment happens just a few times a year.