Moon API Parameters
Below is an overview of all parameters related to the moon:
Moon Age | Moon Azimuth Angle | Moon Elevation Angle | Moon Light | Moon Phase | Moon Visible Area | Moonrise and Moonset
Every parameter is now explained in more detail:
Moon Age
Age of the moon given in days since new moon.
moon_age:d
Example:
-
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-03T00:00:00ZP6D:P1D/moon_age:d/50,10/csv
validdate;moon_age:d 2017-08-18T00:00:00Z;26 2017-08-19T00:00:00Z;27 2017-08-20T00:00:00Z;28 2017-08-21T00:00:00Z;0 2017-08-22T00:00:00Z;1 2017-08-23T00:00:00Z;2 2017-08-24T00:00:00Z;3
Moon Azimuth Angle
The moon azimuth angle defines the moon's relative direction along the local horizon.
moon_azimuth:d
Example:
- The moon azimuth angle for London on June 10th, 2024:
Current situation:validdate;moon_azimuth:d 2024-06-10T00:30:00Z;323.9 2024-06-10T01:00:00Z;330.1 2024-06-10T01:30:00Z;336.5 2024-06-10T02:00:00Z;343.0 2024-06-10T02:30:00Z;349.7 2024-06-10T03:00:00Z;356.5 2024-06-10T03:30:00Z;3.4 2024-06-10T04:00:00Z;10.2 2024-06-10T04:30:00Z;16.9 2024-06-10T05:00:00Z;23.6 2024-06-10T05:30:00Z;30.0 2024-06-10T06:00:00Z;36.3 … 2024-06-10T18:30:00Z;242.3 2024-06-10T19:00:00Z;249.7 2024-06-10T19:30:00Z;256.4 2024-06-10T20:00:00Z;262.6 2024-06-10T20:30:00Z;268.4 2024-06-10T21:00:00Z;274.0 2024-06-10T21:30:00Z;279.4 2024-06-10T22:00:00Z;284.7 2024-06-10T22:30:00Z;290.1 2024-06-10T23:00:00Z;295.4 2024-06-10T23:30:00Z;300.9 2024-06-11T00:00:00Z;306.5
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-02T00:30:00Z--2024-12-03T00:00:00Z:PT30M/moon_azimuth:d/51.508021,-0.129410/html
Moon Elevation Angle
The moon elevation angle (angle between the moon and the horizon) gives the position of the moon above the horizon.moon_elevation:d
Example:
- The moon elevation angle for Oslo on summer solstice:
Current situation:
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-02T00:00:00Z--2024-12-03T00:00:00Z:PT1H/moon_elevation:d/59.914941,10.743319/html
Moon Light
Gives the moon light in percent with respect to the moon phase and the cloud cover.
moon_light:p
Examples:
- The amount of moon light for the next 3 days for a location:
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-03T12:00:00ZP3D:PT1H/moon_light:p/50,10/html - The visible moon light for Europe on October 29th, 2020:
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-03T00:00:00Z/moon_light:p/europe:0.05,0.05/html_map
Moon Phase
The phase of the moon, which repeats itself every 29.5 days. The range of the index is between -1 and 1, where negative indices correspond to waning moon phases and positive ones to waxing phases:
Index | ⟶ | −0.5 | ⟶ | 0 | ⟶ | 0.5 | ⟶ | 1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Phase | Waning gibbous | Last Quarter | Waning crescent | New Moon | Waxing crescent | First Quarter | Waxing gibbous | Full Moon |
moon_phase:idx
Examples:
-
The moon phase over a period of 60 days
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-03T00:00:00ZP60D:P1D/moon_phase:idx/50,10/html
-
The corresponding json-file with a period of 15 days
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-03T00:00:00ZP15D:P1D/moon_phase:idx/50,10/json
{"version":"3.0","user":"api-test","dateGenerated":"2018-02-14T12:12:06Z","status":"OK","data": [{"parameter":"moon_phase:idx","coordinates":[{"lat":50,"lon":10,"dates": [{"date":"2017-07-01T00:00:00Z","value":0.5},{"date":"2017-07-02T00:00:00Z","value":0.563}, {"date":"2017-07-03T00:00:00Z","value":0.625},{"date":"2017-07-04T00:00:00Z","value":0.688}, {"date":"2017-07-05T00:00:00Z","value":0.75},{"date":"2017-07-06T00:00:00Z","value":0.813}, {"date":"2017-07-07T00:00:00Z","value":0.875},{"date":"2017-07-08T00:00:00Z","value":0.938}, {"date":"2017-07-09T00:00:00Z","value":1},{"date":"2017-07-10T00:00:00Z","value":-0.938}, {"date":"2017-07-11T00:00:00Z","value":-0.875},{"date":"2017-07-12T00:00:00Z","value":-0.813}, {"date":"2017-07-13T00:00:00Z","value":-0.75},{"date":"2017-07-14T00:00:00Z","value":-0.688}, {"date":"2017-07-15T00:00:00Z","value":-0.625},{"date":"2017-07-16T00:00:00Z","value":-0.531}]}]}]}
Visible Area
The percentage of the moon's visible area which is illuminated.
moon_vis_area:p
Examples:
-
The percentage of lit area on the moon over a period of 60 days
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-03T00:00:00ZP60D:P1D/moon_vis_area:p/50,10/html
-
The visible area over a period of 15 days as a csv output
https://api.meteomatics.com/2024-12-03T00:00:00ZP15D:P1D/moon_vis_area:p/50,10/csv
validdate;moon_vis_area:p 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z;59.4 2017-08-02T00:00:00Z;65.6 2017-08-03T00:00:00Z;71.9 2017-08-04T00:00:00Z;78.1 2017-08-05T00:00:00Z;84.4 2017-08-06T00:00:00Z;90.6 2017-08-07T00:00:00Z;96.9 2017-08-08T00:00:00Z;96.9 2017-08-09T00:00:00Z;90.6 2017-08-10T00:00:00Z;84.4 2017-08-11T00:00:00Z;78.1 2017-08-12T00:00:00Z;68.8 2017-08-13T00:00:00Z;62.5 2017-08-14T00:00:00Z;56.3 2017-08-15T00:00:00Z;50 2017-08-16T00:00:00Z;40.6
Moonrise and Moonset
This parameter returns the SQL date and time of moonrise at a given location in UTC.
moonrise:<unit>
moonset:<unit>
Moonrise and moonset times are available in the following units: sql, dn, ux
sql
will return a time stamp according to the ISO-86011 format (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ
).dn
refers to the date number. The date number represents the whole and fractional number of days from 1-Jan-0000 to a specific date and is equivalent to the serial date number used in Matlab.
ux
refers to the Unix timestamp. It gives the total number of elapsed seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on the 1st of January 1970.
Note: Some special cases may occur, which give rise to the following outputs (no date/time outputs):
-666: The moon does not rise or does not set on the specified date
-777: The moon is not visible
-888: The moon is always visible
Example:
-
Moonrise and moonset over a period of one week
validdate;moonrise:sql;moonset:sql 2017-04-03T22:00:00Z;2017-04-03T09:49:23Z;2017-04-03T00:22:38Z 2017-04-04T22:00:00Z;2017-04-04T10:49:52Z;2017-04-04T01:17:45Z 2017-04-05T22:00:00Z;2017-04-05T11:55:07Z;2017-04-05T02:05:29Z 2017-04-06T22:00:00Z;2017-04-06T13:01:22Z;2017-04-06T02:45:21Z 2017-04-07T22:00:00Z;2017-04-07T14:08:38Z;2017-04-07T03:20:11Z 2017-04-08T22:00:00Z;2017-04-08T15:13:52Z;2017-04-08T03:49:52Z 2017-04-09T22:00:00Z;2017-04-09T16:19:19Z;2017-04-09T04:18:13Z 2017-04-10T22:00:00Z;2017-04-10T17:22:38Z;2017-04-10T04:44:32Z