Lunar Perigee and Apogee Calculator

To display the date, time, and distance of lunar perigees and apogees for a given year, enter the year in the box below and press “Calculate”. Depending on the speed of your computer, it may take a while for the results to appear in the text boxes. This page requires your browser to support JavaScript, and that JavaScript be enabled; all computation is done on your own computer so you can, if you wish, save this page in a file and use it even when not connected to the Internet.

The Perigee and Apogee Table

All dates and times are Universal time (UTC); to convert to local time add or subtract the difference between your time zone and UTC, remembering to include any additional offset due to summer time for dates when it is in effect. For each perigee and apogee the distance in kilometres between the centres of the Earth and Moon is given. Perigee and apogee distances are usually accurate to within a few kilometres compared to values calculated with the definitive ELP 2000-82 theory of the lunar orbit; the maximum error over the years 1977 through 2022 is 12 km in perigee distance and 6 km at apogee.

The closest perigee and most distant apogee of the year are marked with “++” if closer in time to full Moon or “--” if closer to new Moon. Other close-to-maximum apogees and perigees are flagged with a single character, again indicating the nearer phase. Following the flags is the interval between the moment of perigee or apogee and the closest new or full phase; extrema cluster on the shorter intervals, with a smaller bias toward months surrounding the Earth's perihelion in early January. “F” indicates the perigee or apogee is closer to full Moon, and “N” that new Moon is closer. The sign indicates whether the perigee or apogee is before (“−”) or after (“+”) the indicated phase, followed by the interval in days and hours. Scan for plus signs to find “photo opportunities” where the Moon is full close to apogee and perigee.

The Moon Phase Table

This table gives the time of all new and full Moons in the indicated year, as well as the last phase of the preceding year and the first phase of the next year.