Moon phase emoji today
Unlike a decorative crescent or a moon face, a phase-based moon emoji represents a stage in the Moon’s changing appearance. The tool below selects the current phase emoji, lets you copy it, and offers a Southern Hemisphere view of the same phase.
This emoji is right until Fri, Oct 9, 9:39 PM, Eastern Time (EDT); then 🌑 new moon.
The emoji follow the phase name used across this site; the full picture — sign, lit share, next sign change — is on the moon today.
All eight phase emoji
Tap an emoji to copy it. Shown as seen from the Northern Hemisphere.
The next 14 days in emoji
The phase at noon each day, Eastern Time (EDT). Copy the whole row for a caption or a schedule.
Names, codes and shortcodes
| Emoji | Unicode name | Code point | HTML | GitHub shortcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🌑 | new moon | U+1F311 | 🌑 | :new_moon: |
| 🌒 | waxing crescent moon | U+1F312 | 🌒 | :waxing_crescent_moon: |
| 🌓 | first quarter moon | U+1F313 | 🌓 | :first_quarter_moon: |
| 🌔 | waxing gibbous moon | U+1F314 | 🌔 | :waxing_gibbous_moon: or :moon: |
| 🌕 | full moon | U+1F315 | 🌕 | :full_moon: |
| 🌖 | waning gibbous moon | U+1F316 | 🌖 | :waning_gibbous_moon: |
| 🌗 | last quarter moon | U+1F317 | 🌗 | :last_quarter_moon: |
| 🌘 | waning crescent moon | U+1F318 | 🌘 | :waning_crescent_moon: |
Names from the Unicode emoji list (version 18.0); shortcodes as GitHub uses them. Other platforms may use different shortcodes.
Moon emoji that are not phases
The cycle in pictures
The phase emoji draw the Moon’s disk with different amounts and sides illuminated. Waxing describes the increasing lit portion we see; waning describes the decreasing portion. Read the following sequence from new moon through waning crescent, then return to the beginning.
- 🌑 new moon: a dark disk, with no bright sunlit portion drawn.
- 🌒 waxing crescent moon: a narrow bright crescent on the right, with most of the disk dark.
- 🌓 first quarter moon: the right half of the disk bright and the left half dark.
- 🌔 waxing gibbous moon: most of the disk bright, with a dark sliver along the left.
- 🌕 full moon: a fully bright disk, without a dark edge marking the phase.
- 🌖 waning gibbous moon: most of the disk bright, with a dark sliver along the right.
- 🌗 last quarter moon: the left half of the disk bright and the right half dark.
- 🌘 waning crescent moon: a narrow bright crescent on the left, with most of the disk dark.
These are snapshots of a continuous change, not shapes the Moon holds between sudden jumps. The synodic month, from new moon to new moon, averages 29.53 days. A quarter moon looks half illuminated because “quarter” names its place in the cycle, not the bright share of its disk.
Why the bright side can look reversed
The standard drawings use a Northern Hemisphere orientation, where a waxing moon is shown lit on the right. From the Southern Hemisphere, the same phase looks mirrored, with waxing light on the left. The phase itself has not changed; the viewing orientation has.
The hemisphere switch above therefore uses the opposite-looking emoji: waxing crescent appears as 🌘, first quarter as 🌗, and waxing gibbous as 🌖. The waning pictures swap in the same way, while new 🌑 and full 🌕 stay unchanged. This matches the picture rather than renaming the Unicode character, so include the phase name when that distinction matters.
Why apps can choose different symbols
This site selects an emoji from the phase name for the current minute. New moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter receive windows of about 28 hours around their exact moments. The crescent and gibbous phases last about 6.2 days each under this naming scheme.
A common programming shortcut divides the 29.53-day cycle into eight equal slices of about 3.7 days. That gives the quarter and full moon symbols longer runs than this site does, so a neighboring emoji can appear near a boundary. Time zones also affect a daily label: a phase transition happens at the same instant worldwide, but that instant can fall on different local dates.
Crescents and faces outside the phase sequence
The separate 🌙 crescent moon has no fixed phase assignment. People commonly use it for night, sleep, or a general moon motif rather than an astronomical report. Choose a phase disk when you want the changing appearance to be the message, and 🌙 when you simply mean nighttime.
The faces are 🌚 new moon face, 🌛 first quarter moon face, 🌜 last quarter moon face, and 🌝 full moon face. They are expressive characters rather than the phase sequence: 🌚 may suggest awkwardness, sarcasm, or flirtation, while 🌝 can read as cheerful or deliberately goofy. These are conversational conventions, not fixed definitions, and the surrounding message determines how they land.
Copying, typing, and publishing
The Copy buttons above insert the character into your clipboard for pasting into a message or document. You can also find moon symbols through your device’s emoji keyboard. Search by the phase name rather than just “moon” to separate the disk symbols from faces.
- Windows: press the Windows key + period to open the emoji panel.
- Mac: press Control + Command + Space to open the character picker.
- GitHub: use a supported shortcode such as :waxing_crescent_moon: or :full_moon:. The alias :moon: means waxing gibbous moon, not a generic moon.
- HTML: write a numeric entity such as 🌕 in the page source to display 🌕.
Shortcodes need support from the app receiving them; they are not universal keyboard commands. An HTML entity likewise needs to be interpreted as HTML rather than pasted into ordinary chat. The reference table above provides the names and encodings, while the final artwork depends on the receiving device or font.
An emoji shows the phase; it cannot say what the moon you were born under says about you. That takes a personal reading. See a reading built from your birth moon →
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no cost to you.Questions
Does the copied emoji update itself later?
No. A pasted emoji remains the character you copied, even after the Moon moves into another phase. For a journal entry, that preserves your original selection. For a profile or status intended to track the Moon, you will need to replace it when the phase changes.
Which symbol should I use for a Southern Hemisphere observation?
Use the hemisphere switch if your priority is matching the illuminated side you see. For an observation shared with others, add the written phase name too. The mirrored character retains its standard Unicode name, which can otherwise make the picture and a screen reader’s label seem inconsistent.
Why does the same emoji look different on another phone?
Emoji are characters rendered with each platform’s own artwork, not identical image files sent between devices. Color, crater detail, and shading can vary without changing the selected character. If an exact visual design matters, share an image rather than relying on the recipient’s emoji font.
Can a phase emoji tell me whether the Moon is visible?
Not by itself. The symbol describes the phase, not whether the Moon is above your horizon or hidden by clouds. For viewing plans, consult local moonrise and moonset information and the weather rather than treating the emoji as a visibility forecast.