Crescent Moon Visibility

Where in North America the new crescent can be seen at sunset on the 29th of each month, calculated for the next ten years. Observers use this to know where to look and what to expect. It does not decide when a month begins.

Choose a year and a month to see the sighting that decides when that month begins, at sunset on the 29th of the month before it.

What this page does not do

A lunar month begins when the crescent is actually seen with the unaided eye and that testimony is verified. Calculation can establish that a sighting was impossible, and on that basis the Committee will set a report aside. It cannot establish that the crescent was seen.

Nothing here is an announcement. After sunset on the 29th the Committee gathers reports from observers across North America and publishes its determination, which may differ from what this page anticipates. The announcement governs.

There is also a case this page cannot show. Where the crescent is actually sighted within the region marked as visible to the naked eye, the Committee may extend the month into the neighboring region where an aid might have been needed to find it. That depends on testimony received after sunset, not on calculation, and it is rare.