New · the Moon of your night
Custom Moon Phase Poster: the Moon of your night
The Moon exactly as it was on the date and place you choose, large and alone on the poster: NASA’s images of the real lunar surface, lit for that night’s true phase, with your words, the place, the date and how much of its face was lit.
$59.99
Print, 18 × 24 in · free shipping
Design yours, free preview- See your Moon, lit for that night, before you pay
- Digital file in minutes · prints on 260 g/m² luster photo paper
- Free Shipping on every print
In short: A custom moon phase poster from Gift The Stars is a print of the real night sky over a chosen place at a chosen date and time, computed from the Hipparcos star catalogue, with your names and a message underneath. A custom moon phase poster shows the Moon as it looked on one date. Ours computes the phase from the Moon’s true angle to the Sun at that instant, lights NASA’s lunar surface from that angle and prints the phase name and the share of its face that was lit; digital $19.99, prints from $39.99, framed from $79.99, free shipping on prints.
The digital file is $19.99 and arrives by email in minutes. Posters start at $39.99 and framed prints at $79.99, in 11×14, 12×16, 18×24 or 24×36 inches, with free shipping to 35 countries; prints are made in 2 to 5 business days. The preview is free and needs no account.
How it works
Step 1
Pick the night
The place, date and time: the night you were born, the night you met, a wedding or a night you want to keep.
Step 2
We light the Moon
Its phase for that exact instant, read in the place’s own time zone, drawn on NASA’s real lunar surface and turned for the southern hemisphere.
Step 3
Make it yours
Your words as the title, one of 19 styles from deep black to a watercolour night, then digital, print or framed. The preview is free.
Whose Moon?
The night you were born
The Moon on your birthday, or a child’s: a thin crescent, a full Moon, or a new Moon in charcoal.
The night we met
The Moon over a first date, for an anniversary or Valentine’s Day.
A wedding night
The Moon over the venue at the hour of the first dance.
In memory
The Moon on the night someone arrived, or the night they left, kept as it was.
How it is computed
The Moon, computed, not picked
By Mayukh Bagchi, founder & phd candidate in astronomy
The phase comes from the Moon’s elongation, its angle from the Sun as seen from Earth, at the exact instant you enter, read in the place’s own time zone. From that angle we light the surface and print the illuminated fraction, so a 3-day crescent is drawn as a thin crescent and labelled about 10 % illuminated, not rounded to the nearest of eight stock phases.
The Moon itself is real: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mosaic of the near side, with the orbiter’s laser-measured terrain, so the craters along the terminator catch the light the way they did that night. The unlit part keeps the surface in charcoal, so even a new Moon shows its seas. From the southern hemisphere the Moon looks turned around, and we turn it to match. Lunar imagery: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
The stars around the Moon are a backdrop for the poster, scattered to fit the design, and fade near the Moon the way moonlight washes out a real sky. If you want the real stars of that night too, the Star Map with Moon Phase puts the computed sky beside the Moon.
Sizes and prices
The same prices as every star map, in the same portrait sizes.
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Questions
Moon Phase Poster: questions
- What is a custom moon phase poster?
- A poster of the Moon as it looked on one date and place, with its phase name, how much of its face was lit, and your words. Ours is drawn from NASA imagery of the real surface and lit for that exact instant.
- How accurate is the moon phase?
- It is computed from the Moon’s true angle to the Sun at the instant and place you enter, not chosen from a set of stock phases, and the poster prints the percentage of the face that was lit.
- Is this the moon phase on the day I was born?
- Yes: enter your birth date, place and, if you know it, the time. The phase changes slowly, so a few hours either way rarely changes its name, and the lit percentage moves by only a few points.
- What if it was a new Moon?
- The poster still shows the Moon of that night: its unlit face in charcoal with the seas and craters visible, labelled New Moon.
- Are the stars on the poster real?
- No, they are a backdrop for the design. The Moon, its phase and the lit percentage are computed for your night. For the real sky of that night beside its Moon, choose the Star Map with Moon Phase.
- How much does it cost?
- The same as any star map: digital $19.99, prints from $39.99 and framed from $79.99, with free shipping on prints.
- Which sizes does it come in?
- Portrait 11 × 14, 12 × 16, 18 × 24 and 24 × 36 inches, unframed or in a black, white or natural wood frame. The digital file is 5400 × 7200 pixels.
- Can I see it before I buy?
- Yes. The designer draws your Moon live as you type, framed and on a wall, before you pay anything.
Also new
The other new layouts, at the same prices.
Also: the classic custom star map, a framed star map, the digital download, the birth poster and all star map gifts.