Moon in Des Moines Today — Waning Gibbous

Tonight the moon in Des Moines is in the Waning Gibbous phase. It is 96% illuminated and 16.7 days into the current lunar cycle. Moon phases are the same worldwide — only the exact local clock time of moonrise and moonset differs by location.

The next full moon occurs on 30 mai 2026, which is 28 days from today. During a full moon the Moon is 100% illuminated as seen from Earth.

The next new moon occurs on 15 mai 2026, in 13 days. The new moon marks the start of a fresh 29.5-day lunar cycle and is not visible in the night sky.

A lunar (synodic) cycle lasts approximately 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes — or 29.53 days. It runs from one new moon to the next, passing through 8 distinct phases: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent.

No — the moon phase (the fraction of the Moon illuminated) is the same everywhere on Earth at any given moment. However, moonrise and moonset times, as well as the moon's altitude in the sky, vary by location. The moon also appears upside-down in the Southern Hemisphere compared to the Northern Hemisphere.

The moon rises at approximately 21:46 local time in Des Moines tonight. Moonrise shifts about 50 minutes later each night as the Moon moves eastward along its orbit, completing a full cycle roughly every 29.5 days.

The next full moon on 30 mai 2026 is known as the Flower Moon. These traditional names — originating with Native American tribes and later adopted in the Farmer's Almanac — each reflect a seasonal event or natural phenomenon of that month visible from the Northern Hemisphere.

No — the Moon is currently at approximately 404,875 km, a typical orbital distance. A supermoon occurs when a full moon coincides with the Moon being within roughly 360,000 km of Earth (near perigee). The Moon's distance varies between ~356,500 km (perigee) and ~406,700 km (apogee) over each ~27.3-day anomalistic month.

From Des Moines at 41.6°N latitude, the full moon's maximum altitude above the horizon varies by season. In the local hemisphere's winter — when the full moon is opposite a low winter sun — it can reach roughly 72° above the horizon. In summer it arcs lower, around 25°. This seasonal variation is the same reason the sun is high in summer and low in winter.

The Moon's phase is identical everywhere on Earth simultaneously. However, its orientation in the sky differs by hemisphere: in the Northern Hemisphere the waxing crescent curves to the left; in the Southern Hemisphere it curves to the right. From Des Moines at 41.6°N, the Moon arcs through the southern sky. Moonrise and moonset times also differ by longitude — a city 15° to the east sees the Moon rise roughly 1 hour earlier.