🌑 Current Moon Phase
New Moon🌑
Phase:
Distance:
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
A tiny astronomy tool, rendered like a photo
I built this after stumbling on a beautiful 3D Moon demo on CodePen — it looked amazing, but I wanted it to be right. So I paired that visual idea with real moon phase calculations, and turned it into a fast, no-nonsense page you can open and instantly trust.
Why I made this
🌙- Because a moon phase widget should feel like a photo, not a sticker.
- Because I wanted the illuminated fraction and limb direction to be driven by math.
- Because building a polished little tool is fun (and so is DOGE mode).
How it works
🛠️- Moon phase math comes from SunCalc’s illumination + position APIs.
- 3D rendering is done with Three.js using a sphere, textures, and a displacement map.
- Lighting is computed so the illuminated fraction and limb angle line up.
Sources & credits
📚- Moon texture: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio — CGI Moon Kit
- Inspiration: 3D Moon (CodePen)
- Lighting reference: Moon Phase and Libration, 2024
- Libraries: SunCalc and Three.js
Privacy
If you allow geolocation, it’s used only to orient the limb correctly for your sky. The app doesn’t send your coordinates anywhere.
What’s accurate?
The Moon’s orientation/rotation is now accurate. The illuminated fraction and limb orientation are computed from SunCalc. The lighting still needs some fine tuning.
Built with
SvelteKit + Tailwind for UI, Three.js for rendering, and a few small UI utilities.
