The Moon

The Moon In January

As 2026 begins, the bright moon is building towards being full on the third, making the end of the holidays not the best time to be looking for DSOs. Of course, the moon wanes as time progresses and by the end of January’s first week, we’re terated to a couple of hours’ moon-free astronomy in the early evening.

Last quarter follows quickly on the tenth and treats us to darkness the whole evening long. This situation carries on past the new moon on 18 January, and into the last ten days of the month. First quarter – ideal for the moon-watchers amongst us – is on the 25th of Jan and, by month’s end, we’re almost back to a full moon once again.

The last few days of November are when the moon’s waxing crescent disc bring it back to first quarter on the 28th, which is a spectacular time for observing the Lunar 100.

Moon Name

January’s full moon is named the Wolf Moon. This name comes from the wolf howls that are common in their territories at this time of year because cold and snowy conditions create a lack of food, leading to the hunger which causes the wolves to howl. Another, more obvious name for January’s full moon is the ice moon.

Viewing Summary

Dark Evenings	Dark Mornings	Dark Night	Evening Moon	Morning Moon
8-21	14-25	12-22	1-5, 24-31	2-10, 29-31

Evenings = 8pm to midnight, mornings = midnight to 4am, all night = 9pm to 3am (sunrise/set is ignored, moonset/rise hour is included)

Moon Phases, Rise & Set Times

Whether you are planning to observe the moon, or you want to make sure to avoid it, use the table below to discover when the moon will be above the horizon this month. The ‘Illumination’ column shows how bright it is going to be – the higher the %, the brighter the moon.

Moon Table Notes

A=Apogee (furthest approach), P=Perigee (closest approach), FQ=First Quarter, LQ=Last Quarter
All times are for Kansas City (DST). However, these times will be approximately accurate for your local time zone wherever you are in the northern hemisphere. For example, if you live in London, UK, the moonrise and set times will be no more than an hour different from those shown in the table above.
There are two moonrise columns in the table, this is because each day is timed from midnight to midnight. On some days in the month the moon is already in the sky at midnight, therefore it sets first before rising again later in the day. On other days, the moon is below the horizon at midnight. On those days it rises first before setting later in the day.
The data in the table comes from timeanddate.com

Visualization Of The Moon’s Impact

The following chart shows a visualisation of when the moon is above the horizon and below. This should make it easier for you to plan which nights offer the darkest skies and which provide the best opportunity for observing the moon itself.

First & Last Quarter Moon Locations

The two pictures below, from SkySafari 6, show the last and first quarter moons available to us in January.

We’ll see it reach last quarter on 10 January, when the moon will be passing through Virgo. Last quarter is always best viewed in the evening, when the moon is higher in the sky. The image below shows the moon’s location at 6:00 am when it will be 40° over the southern horizon.

First quarter, which is better for lunar gazers outside in the morning, happens on the 25th of January. The second star chart below reveals that the moon is in Aries that night and 45° above the southeastern horizon at 9:00 pm.

Click on the pictures for full screen versions.

January 2026