Moon phase and position

The is a source of light, obviously. And a strong one it is!
If you want to be able to spot even the faintest traces of the aurora you don't want that big bright moon on your sky, or at least not with its full disk. You can prepare for going to a Bortle 1 zone but if the moon is full and over the horizon it will be hard to find an aurora unless it is very active. And even then you will not get to appreciate the full and subtle beauty of many of the aurorae.

Search for your own best moment of Moon phase and position


These are the positions during my upcoming 17th trip for the Aurora in Lapland at my location. They are very favourable for 20 consecutive nights. 5 October is in there because 4-5 October is my last night and I'll be out till around 02:00hrs. As the best of dates to go is around the equinoxes I found these 20 days an exceptional chance coinciding with the top of the solar cycle.
The part on the right is about the Meridian passing. It is the moment it crosses the North-South line of exactly the spot here you are standing if you put in the correct place/coordinates. It shows the time (height/elevation in degrees above the horizon), the distance of the moon and its brightness.


As you can see the Moon is in its last quarter low on the horizon when I arrive and then it rises in the night or daytime and sets in the early evening. Then it is to sink under the horizon for a few days. In the last three days the Moon will not get any higher than 3, 8.3 and 14.6 degrees over the horizon which is very to quite low casting long and deep shadows.