You've probably noticed that the moon doesn't exactly stick to a clock. One night it's glowing over the horizon just as you're finishing dinner, and the next, it's nowhere to be found until you're halfway through a late-night Netflix binge. If you're looking for what time is moonrise tonight, specifically for Sunday, January 18, 2026, the answer is a bit earlier than you might expect.
Basically, the moon is rising at 7:34 AM in cities like Baltimore today.
Wait, morning? Yeah. It sounds weird if you're used to only seeing the moon at night, but the moon is up during the day all the time. Today is actually a New Moon day. The moon is sitting almost directly between us and the sun, which means it rises and sets right along with it.
The Current Moonrise Schedule and Why It Feels Off
On January 18, 2026, the moon is basically invisible to the naked eye. It’s reached that "New Moon" phase at precisely 2:53 PM Eastern Time. Because it’s so close to the sun in the sky, it's getting lost in the glare.
Here is how the timing looks for today:
The moon came up at 7:34 AM and will dip below the horizon around 5:00 PM.
If you were hoping for a big, silver orb to light up your evening walk, you're out of luck tonight. Honestly, the sky will be pretty dark. But that’s actually great news if you’re into stargazing or trying to catch a glimpse of the planets. With the moon out of the way, Jupiter is currently dominating the eastern sky near the constellation Gemini, looking incredibly bright because there's no lunar glare to wash it out.
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What is the Moonrise Time for the Rest of the Week?
The moon is a bit of a procrastinator. It rises about 50 minutes later every single day on average. This happens because while the Earth is spinning on its axis, the moon is also moving in its own orbit around us.
- By Monday, January 19, the moonrise will shift to approximately 8:08 AM.
- By Tuesday, it’s closer to 8:36 AM.
- By the time we hit the First Quarter moon on January 25, it won't be rising until nearly 11:00 AM.
Why Moonrise Times Move Around So Much
There is a huge misconception that the moon follows a set schedule like the sun. It doesn't. Not even close.
The "50-minute rule" is just a rough estimate. Depending on where you live and the time of year, that gap between moonrises can be as short as 25 minutes or as long as 75 minutes. Astronomers call this the "retardation" of the moonrise.
Your Latitude Changes Everything
If you’re up in London or Seattle, the angle of the moon's path across the sky is much shallower than if you're hanging out on a beach in Singapore. This means the time difference between tonight's moonrise and tomorrow's can swing wildly.
According to experts at Sky & Telescope, the tilt of the Earth (that 23.5 degrees we all learned about in middle school) combined with the 5-degree tilt of the moon's orbit creates a "wobble" in the schedule. In the autumn, for example, we get the "Harvest Moon" effect where the moon rises nearly at the same time for several nights in a row. But in January? The shifts are much more standard.
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The Elliptical Orbit Factor
The moon doesn't move in a perfect circle. It moves in an ellipse. When the moon is at "perigee" (its closest point to Earth), it actually travels faster in its orbit. When it moves faster, the delay in moonrise time gets longer because the moon has physically moved further along its path by the time the Earth finishes one rotation.
How to Spot the Moon This Week
Since today is a New Moon, you won't see anything. But keep an eye out starting Tuesday or Wednesday evening.
You’ll see a tiny, razor-thin "Waxing Crescent" low in the west right after sunset. This is sometimes called the "Old Moon in the New Moon's arms" because you can occasionally see the dark part of the moon faintly glowing. That’s actually Earthshine—sunlight reflecting off the Earth, hitting the moon, and bouncing back to your eyes. It's one of the coolest things you can see without a telescope.
Actionable Tips for Moon Tracking
- Check a local tide app: Since the moon controls the tides, these apps often have more accurate local moonrise data than a general weather website.
- Look West at Sunset: If you want to see the very first sliver of the new lunar cycle, look toward the sunset on January 20.
- Avoid Light Pollution: Even a thin crescent moon is hard to see if you’re standing under a streetlamp. Head to a park about 30 minutes after the sun goes down.
The moon will continue to wax (grow larger) until the next Full Moon on February 1, 2026. Until then, enjoy the dark skies tonight and use the lack of moonlight to find Saturn in the southwest or Jupiter high in the east.
To get the most out of the next few days, download a star-mapping app like Stellarium or SkySafari. These apps use your phone’s GPS to tell you the exact second of moonrise for your specific backyard, rather than just giving you a general city-wide estimate.