Home > Concepts, Ephemeris Program, Observing, Planets, The Moon > Ephemeris: 08/29/2025 – Late August crescent Moon stays low in the western sky

Ephemeris: 08/29/2025 – Late August crescent Moon stays low in the western sky

August 29, 2025

This is Ephemeris for Friday, August 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 8:24, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:03. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:48 this evening.

There’s an interesting feature that I’ve noticed about the Moon this time of year. When there’s a waxing crescent Moon in the evening, in late summer to early autumn, it’s seen pretty low in the southwestern sky after sunset. Tonight it’ll be two days before first quarter so it’ll be a fat crescent. However, when it’s seen after sunset, it will be very low in the southwestern sky. Contrast that for early risers, at this time of year the waning crescent Moon moves at a steep angle to the horizon, as do the planets now in the east. And of course the opposite is true for late winter and early spring moons. By the way, the Harvest Moon is in early October this year. The Harvest Moon is the nearest full moon to the autumnal equinox.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Daily position of the crescent Moon on four dates in late August, 2025. The Moon is shown 3 times normal size for clarity. Created using Stellarium, GIMP and LibreOffice Draw.
This is the planert and Moon line up from the morning of a couple of weeks ago. Note the steep line of the planets. The Planets motion closely follows the ecliptic (Sun’s path) as does the Moon.

Categories: Concepts, Ephemeris Program, Observing, Planets, The Moon