The lunar sky
What eclipses, Earth, the Sun and the stars actually look like from the surface of the Moon. Every figure and every number on these pages was computed from a real ephemeris — the same one that runs inside Lunar Aspect — rather than described from memory.
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What does a solar eclipse look like from the Moon?
From the Moon you never see a solar eclipse — you watch its shadow. The 2 August 2027 eclipse, computed: a fully lit Earth overhead at lunar midnight, and a dark spot crossing Egypt.
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What does a lunar eclipse look like from the Moon?
A lunar eclipse is what it is called from down here. Stand on the Moon and it is something else entirely: Earth slides in front of the Sun, and you are the one in shadow. Computed for the eclipse of 6 July 2028.
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What did the sky look like from the Apollo 11 landing site?
Computed for 20 July 1969, 20:17 UTC, at Tranquility Base: where Earth stood, what phase it showed, and how low the Sun was — the geometry behind every photograph taken that day.
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Does Earth rise and set when you are on the Moon?
It does not. Earth hangs in one spot and stays there — but it is not perfectly still either. Computed: the exact size of the wobble over one month at Tranquility Base.
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How big does Earth look from the Moon?
About four times wider than the Sun, and not always the same — the Moon’s orbit is an ellipse. Computed: Earth at its nearest and its farthest within one year.
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How long is a day on the Moon?
About 29 and a half Earth days from sunrise to sunrise, with roughly a fortnight of continuous daylight in the middle. Computed from one real sunrise at Tranquility Base.
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Does Earth have phases like the Moon does?
It does — full, new and everything between, on the same monthly cycle as our Moon but exactly inverted. Computed: a real full Earth and the new Earth that follows.
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Can you see Earth from the far side of the Moon?
Never, from the middle of it — and the engine can prove it rather than assert it. Computed for Daedalus crater, the quietest place we know of.
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Can you see stars from the Moon during the day?
Yes — the sky stays black even at lunar noon, because there is no air to scatter sunlight. Computed: a real moment with the Sun high and stars above the horizon at the same time.
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Why did Apollo 8 see an Earthrise if Earth never rises?
Because they were moving. Earth is fixed in the sky from the lunar surface — the most famous photograph of the twentieth century only exists because the camera was in orbit. Computed for 24 December 1968.
Or move the date yourself
Each page here is one frozen moment. The engine behind them runs on a phone at any date, from anywhere on the Moon.