During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Saturday October 31st. At this time, the moon is located opposite the sun and lies above the horizon all night long. As this period progresses, the waning gibbous moon will rise later with each passing night, allowing a short period of dark sky between dusk and moon rise.
During this period, the moon waxes from half illuminated to nearly full. This weekend the moon will set during the early morning hours, allowing several hours of good viewing prior to the start of dawn. As this period progresses, the waxing gibbous moon will begin to interfere with morning meteor observing as it sets approximately 45 minutes later with each passing night. By the end of this period the nearly full moon will lie above the horizon all night long, making meteor observing difficult at best.
Grant Tandy was photographing the Perseid meteor display from near Bend, Oregon, USA, when this bright meteor shot through the…
During this period, the moon reaches its new phase on Friday October 16th. At that time, the moon is located near the sun and is invisible at night. This weekend the waning crescent moon will rise during the early morning hours but will not interfere with meteor observing as long as your keep it out of your field of view.
During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Thursday October 1st. At that time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. This weekend the waxing gibbous moon will set during the early morning hours, allowing a few hours of observations under dark skies between moon set and dawn.
During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Wednesday September 23rd. At this time, the half-illuminated moon is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets near 2300 local daylight saving time (LDST). This weekend the waxing crescent moon will set during the early evening hours and will not interfere with meteor observing.
During this period, the moon reaches its new phase on Thursday September 17th. At this time, the moon is located near the sun and is invisible at night. This weekend the waning crescent moon will rise during the early morning hours and will not be too much of a nuisance as long as you keep it out of your field of view while observing.
During this period, the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Thursday September 10th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees west of the sun and rises near 23:00 local daylight saving time (LDST) on September 9th. This weekend the waning gibbous moon will rise during the early evening hours and will spoil the viewing for the remainder of the night.
During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Thursday September 3rd. At this time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. This weekend the waxing gibbous moon will set during the early morning hours, allowing a short opportunity to view meteor activity prior to dawn.
During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Wednesday August 26th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets between midnight and 0100 local daylight saving time (LDST). This weekend the waxing crescent moon will set during the early evening hours and will not interfere with the more active morning hours.
During this period, the moon reaches its new phase on Wednesday August 19th. At this time, the moon is located near the sun and is invisible at night. This weekend the waning crescent moon will rise during the early morning hours but will be too thin to interfere with meteor observing.
During this period, the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Tuesday August 11th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees west of the sun and rises between 23:00 and midnight local daylight saving time (LDST on August 10/11) . This weekend the waning gibbous moon will rise during the late evening hours, allowing a short but dark glimpse of the early August activity between dusk and moonrise.
During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Monday August 3rd. At this time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. This weekend the nearly full moon will set an hour prior to dawn, allowing a short but dark glimpse of the early August activity. By Thursday, the short, dark portion of night will have shifted to the evening sky in the hour following dusk.
During this period, the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Monday July 13th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees west of the sun and rises near 0100 local daylight saving time (LDST). As the week progresses the waning crescent moon rises later in the morning with each passing night. This allows the window of dark skies to increase as the week progresses. The most active hours just prior to dawn will have slight interference from moonlight but one can overcome this simply facing in a direction where the moon is not visible within your field of view.
During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Sunday July 5th. At this time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. As the week progresses the waning gibbous moon rises later in the evening with each passing night. This allows for some early evening meteor observing under dark skies. Unfortunately, this is also the time of the lowest meteor activity of the night.
During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Sunday June 28th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets near 01:00 local daylight saving time (LDST). As the week progresses the waxing gibbous moon remains longer in the morning sky with each passing night. This narrows the opportunity to view meteor activity under dark conditions from many hours early in the period to almost nil late in the period.
During this period the moon reaches its new phase on Monday June 22nd. At this time, the moon is located near the sun and it invisible at night. As the week progresses the waxing crescent moon will enter the evening sky but will not interfere with meteor observing.
During this period the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Saturday June 13th. At this time the moon will rise near 02:00 local daylight saving time (LDST) and will remain in the sky the remainder of the morning. This will compromise late morning viewing but successful meteor observations can still be attempted if one keeps the moon out of their field of view. As the week progresses the waning crescent moon will rise later each morning, becoming less of a problem with each passing night.
During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Saturday May 30th. At this time, it is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets near 02:00 local daylight saving time (LDST). As the week progresses the waxing gibbous moon will start intruding on the morning sky, shrinking the opportunity to view under dark conditions which each passing night. Toward the end of this period moon set and the start of morning twilight will be simultaneous.
During this period, the moon progresses from its new phase to almost half-illuminated. It won't cause any problems once it enters the evening sky as it will set long before the more active morning hours arrive.
During this period, the moon reaches its new phase on Friday May 22nd . This weekend the waning crescent moon will rise during the early morning hours and will only present a slight annoyance the remainder of the morning. One can easily obtain useful observations by keeping the moon out of your field of view.
American Meteor Society