Last Quarter Moon: What It Is, How to Spot It and What It Means

At last quarter the Moon trails the Sun by 90 degrees, so it sits west of the Sun in our sky. Measured from the new moon it has come 270 degrees, three quarters of the full circle, which is where the other common name, third quarter, comes from. Once more the sunlight arrives side-on and half of the disk is lit, but it is the half that lay in darkness at the first quarter.

Almanacs list the last quarter as a single minute, as they do for the new moon, first quarter and full moon, while in casual use the name stretches to the night and morning around it. On average it comes 22.1 days after the new moon and 7.4 days after the full moon, though the gap varies by about a day from month to month because the Moon's orbit is an ellipse. The last quarter of December 1, 2026, for example, comes 7 days and 19 hours before the next new moon, while the one of June 27, 2027 is only 6 days and 22 hours from it.

The last quarter marks the start of the final week of the cycle. From here the lit part keeps shrinking through the waning crescent until the Moon disappears at the next new moon. The phases of the Moon guide places it among all eight phases.

A straight terminator, the boundary between day and night on the Moon, tells you that you are looking at a quarter. The lit side tells you which one. Anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere the last quarter shines on its left, the reverse of the first quarter, while Australians and South Americans see it lit on the right.

The clock is the surest test, in either hemisphere. A last quarter Moon clears the eastern horizon near midnight, reaches its highest point around dawn and goes down in the west near midday. If you see a half moon on the way to work or at the school gate, high in the morning sky while the Sun is up, it is a last quarter. Because it comes up so late, this is the phase most people never notice, even though it shines for hours.

On a last quarter Moon the terminator is the line where the Sun is setting. It runs down nearly the same central strip as at first quarter, but the light now comes from the other side, so crater walls throw their shadows the opposite way and familiar features look new through binoculars. The lit half takes in the broad dark plain of Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms, which is still in shadow at first quarter. Bright as it looks, this half moon sheds only around a tenth of the full Moon's glow, so the hours before dawn stay fairly dark.

Our engine gives these last quarters for December 2026 through 2027. Times are for New York, and the last column shows the Moon's sign at the exact quarter:

Times are computed by our ephemeris engine; how we calculate. In Chicago take off one hour and in Los Angeles three, so the February 28 quarter falls on the evening of February 27 in both cities.

The time shown is the exact quarter, and the Moon looks half lit on the morning closest to it. The December 1 quarter at 1:09 a.m., for example, comes less than two hours after the Moon rises in New York, and the half moon is high in the south by dawn that day. Rise and set times for your own city are in the lunar calendar.

The sign column follows the full moon before it. The Moon at last quarter is 90 degrees behind the Sun, which puts it about three signs on from the sign of the preceding full moon. The full moon of November 24, 2026 is in Gemini, and the last quarter a week later is in Virgo. Now and then two quarters in a row share a sign. In 2027 the September 23 and October 22 quarters both fall in Cancer, because the Sun stays in Libra from just before the first to just after the second. All the full moons are listed in our full moon 2026 and full moon 2027 calendars.

The waning gibbous moon comes just before it, still bulging past half but losing light every night since the full moon. That phase rises in the evening and is still up in the morning. After the last quarter comes the waning crescent moon, a thinning sliver that rises in the hours before dawn and vanishes into the next new moon. The last quarter is the hinge between the two, the morning the gibbous Moon has shrunk to an exact half.

The first quarter moon looks like its mirror image. Both are half lit and both show a straight terminator, but north of the equator the first quarter shows its right half and belongs to the evening. Wherever you are, the hour gives it away: a half moon high at dusk is the first quarter, and one still up at breakfast is the last.

Astrology reads the last quarter as a second square between the Sun and the Moon, the waning one. Where the first quarter is about pushing a new plan into the world, the last quarter comes after the full moon has shown how things turned out. Dane Rudhyar, whose lunation cycle of eight phases shapes much modern practice, named this phase a "crisis in consciousness." The idea is a change of attitude: the outer push is over, and the questions turn to what the cycle taught you and what is no longer worth carrying.

In practice people who follow the Moon use the last quarter for review and clearing. It is a good week to tie up loose ends, cancel what no longer fits, sort through notes and leave room for whatever the next new moon brings. Big launches usually wait for that new moon, so this week is spent deciding what stays.

The sign gives the review a theme. The last quarter in Virgo on December 1, 2026 is read through work routines, health habits and the details of daily life. The one in Libra on December 30 is read through partnerships and the balance between your needs and someone else's. The moon sign tool looks up the Moon's sign for a birthday or any other date.

These are symbolic readings, kept apart from the astronomy on this page. The Moon's position settles nothing for you. Many people simply use the last quarter as a regular moment to pause and take stock.