This month, the conspicuous constellation Orion, the Hunter, is high in the north in the evening sky. Orion is easily recognisable, with 4 bright stars in a rectangle and 3 stars in a row in the middle representing the belt of Orion. Above the belt are 3 fainter objects forming Orion’s dagger or sword, which is above the belt because from our viewpoint in the Southern Hemisphere, the constellation is upside down. The middle ‘star’ of the belt is a giant cloud of gas and dust, in which new stars are forming. Even through a small telescope, it is one of the great sights in the sky.
In Greek mythology, the constellation represents a giant hunter holding a club. One story about Orion is that his boasting about his hunting prowess led to the Earth goddess Gaia sending a scorpion to kill him. The story of this chase is told above our heads, for as Orion rises in the east, Scorpius, the Scorpion, is sinking in the west. To many Australians, however, the stars of the constellation represent a saucepan with the 3 stars of the belt as the base.
The brightest star of the constellation is the brilliant Rigel, which marks Orion’s left foot, though in our view, it is located to the top left. The second brightest is Betelgeuse (bottom right), which is likely to explode as a supernova, possibly in as soon as a few hundred years. In 2019, the star surprisingly became much dimmer than normal. A leading explanation is that it ejected a large chunk of material that, on cooling, formed a dense cloud, which partially blocked its light.
Predicting the visibility of the crescent Moon in February and March 2026
The main calendar we use (the ‘Gregorian’ calendar) is a solar one — based on the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun. Many religious calendars, however, are based (or partly based) on the phases of the Moon. These include the Catholic, Jewish and Islamic religious calendars. The dates of festivities, holidays and important events in the lunar calendar move by about 10 days every year within the Gregorian calendar.
The ninth month of the Islamic calendar, known as Ramadan, is the Islamic month of fasting. The Hilal, or crescent Moon, marks the beginning of the fasting period. However, there are differences of opinion on how to determine the visibility of the crescent Moon. There are traditional methods for determining when the crescent should be first visible. Some observers require an unaided sighting by eye of the crescent Moon while others lean towards using astronomical calculations for assistance.
The following astronomical data concern the timing of new Moons and criteria for the first visibility of the crescent Moons in February and March of 2026 for Australia.
The simplest useful criterion is the lagtime, or difference, between sunset and moonset. If that time is greater than 47 minutes (at the latitude of Sydney) the crescent Moon should be visible to the unaided eye after sunset and before the setting of the Moon.
Another common, and more detailed, method of prediction is to use a scheme developed by Dr Bernard Yallop of HM Nautical Office and proposed in 1997. This scheme or algorithm involves the altitude difference between the Sun and the Moon; a calculated ‘best time’ to view the Moon; and the width of the crescent. The Yallop method is applicable to any location. More details of this method and maps displaying the Moon’s visibility are available here.
All dates and times in this article are for Sydney, unless otherwise stated, and times are in Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT, often called ‘daylight saving time’) or Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) as appropriate for the date concerned. Daylight Saving ends in 2026 on Sunday 5 April at 3 am. In 2026 all times below are in AEDT.
The New Moon in February and March 2026
The New Moon in February 2026 will occur at 11:01 pm AEDT on Tuesday 17 February. This is after sunset and therefore the crescent Moon will not be visible from any location in Australia.
On the evening of Wednesday 18 February the Sun will set at 7:45 pm AEDT and the Moon will set at 8:09 pm AEDT. The lagtime is only 24 minutes so the crescent Moon will not be visible to the unaided eye at Sydney’s latitude, and the Yallop method concurs.
For 18 February the Yallop method provides the following more detailed picture for other parts of Australia:
- On Wednesday 18 February, if you are north and west of a line joining (approximately) Coral Bay (halfway between Carnarvon and Exmouth, WA) to Cape Flattery (just north of Cooktown, Qld) the crescent Moon may be visible to the unaided eye but only after being found with binoculars or a telescope. To avoid irreversible eye damage please ensure the Sun has fully set before searching the western horizon for the crescent Moon with your binoculars or telescope.
- On Wednesday 18 February, if you are south and east of the above region (i.e. of the line joining Coral Bay to Cape Flattery) but also north and west of a line joining (approximately) Geraldton (WA) to Bowen (Qld) the crescent Moon may be visible but only with binoculars or telescopes. To avoid irreversible eye damage please ensure the Sun has fully set before searching the western horizon for the crescent Moon with your binoculars or telescope.
- On Wednesday 18 February, if you are south of the above region (i.e. of the line joining Geraldton to Bowen) the crescent Moon will not be visible. This region includes Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Hobart.
- On Thursday 19 February, the crescent Moon should be easily visible to the unaided eye from all locations in Australia after sunset, as determined by both the lagtime (the lagtime is now 53 minutes) and Yallop methods.
The New Moon in March 2026
The following new Moon occurs on Thursday 19 March at 12:23 pm AEDT. On this day the Moon sets before the Sun for the southern half of Australia, and for the rest of Australia it will be too close to the Sun to be visible by any means. Note, however, that some parts of northern Africa, Europe and the Americas may see the new Moon on this day.
On the evening of Friday 20 March, the Sun will set at 7:07 pm AEDT and the Moon will set at 7:34 pm AEDT. The lagtime is only 27 minutes so the crescent Moon will not be visible to the unaided eye at Sydney’s latitude.
However, the Yallop method provides a more detailed picture for Australia, for 20 March, as follows:
- On Friday 20 March, if you are north and west of a line joining (approximately) Kalbarri (WA) to Clairview (south of Mackay, Qld) the crescent Moon should be readily visible.
- On Friday 20 March if you are south and east of the above region (i.e. of the line joining Kalbarri to Clairview) and north and west of a line joining (approximately) Cape Leeuwin (WA) to Yamba (north of Grafton, NSW) the crescent Moon may be visible to the unaided eye under perfect atmospheric conditions (i.e. no cloud, no dust and a very clear western horizon).
- On Friday 20 March, if you are south and east of the above region (i.e. of the line joining Cape Leeuwin to Yamba) but also north and west of a line joining (approximately) Kingston SE (near Cape Jaffa SA) to Ulladulla (NSW) the crescent Moon may be visible to the unaided eye but only after being found with binoculars or a telescope. To avoid irreversible eye damage please ensure the Sun has fully set before searching the western horizon for the crescent Moon with your binoculars or telescope.
- On Friday 20 March, if you are south and east of the above region (i.e. of the line joining Kingston SE to Ulladulla) but also north of a line joining (approximately) Wonthaggi (Gippsland, Vic) to Seaspray (Gippsland, Vic) the crescent Moon may be visible but only with binoculars or telescopes. To avoid irreversible eye damage please ensure the Sun has fully set before searching the western horizon for the crescent Moon with your binoculars or telescope.
- On Friday 20 March, if you are south of the above region (i.e. of the line joining Wonthaggi to Seaspray) the crescent Moon will not be visible. This region includes the whole of Tasmania.
On Saturday 21 March the Sun will set at 7:06 pm AEDT and the Moon will set at 8:06 pm AEDT. The lagtime is now 60 minutes and the crescent Moon should be visible (at Sydney’s latitude) to the unaided eye if the western sky is clear of cloud. The Yallop method concurs. Further, the Yallop method shows that the crescent Moon should be visible to the unaided eye from all locations, including Tasmania, in Australia after, sunset on 21 March.
Other locations
If you are not in Sydney but your latitude is within a degree or so of Sydney’s latitude then the lagtime method of 47 minutes should work sufficiently well for you, but you will need to find the time of sunset and moonset for your particular location.
In Melbourne the moment of sunset on Wednesday 18 February (8:15 pm AEDT) the Moon will be at an altitude above the horizon of 3.8-degrees and it will be 9.5-degrees to the right of the Sun, i.e. from the point where the Sun set the Moon will be 9.5-degrees to the right and 3.8-degrees up from the horizon. At the moment of sunset on Thursday 19 February (8:14 pm AEDT) the Moon will be at an altitude above the horizon of 8.7-degrees and it will be 21-degrees to the right of the Sun, i.e. from the point where the Sun set, look 21-degrees to the right then 8.7-degrees up to find the crescent Moon.
