Lunar Phases Advanced

High Precision Lunar Phases Advanced Indicator

Our Beautiful Companion in the Night:
At New Moon, the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun. The Near side is completely dark, so the Moon is unseen (except during a solar eclipse). At Full Moon, the Near side of the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, so sunlight hits the entire face we see—creating that big, beautifully bright Ball in the night sky. Due to tidal locking, we never see the Far side of the moon from Earth's surface.

Right after New Moon, a thin Waxing Crescent appears low in the western sky at dusk, growing into the half-lit First Quarter, then a bulging Waxing Gibbous until reaching Full Moon which rises exactly as the Sun sets. After Full, it shrinks through Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter (half-lit visible in the early morning sky), finishing with a Waning Crescent (thin sliver again) just before disappearing at dawn for the next New Moon.

The Moon’s orbit is elliptical, so its distance from Earth varies. When Full and near Perigee(closest approach) it appears larger and up to 30% brighter leading way to the name, Super Moon. Near Apogee(farthest distance) the Moon will look smaller and dimmer, or Micro Moon. These extreme alignments tend to cluster in "seasons" because the point of closest approach slowly drifts around the orbit, completing a full cycle every 18.6 years.

Chart zoomed out to highlight the seasonal Super Moon behavior:



This indicator places markers on your chart for every New/Full Moon. Super Moon events use larger circles, Micro Moon events use smaller ones (both optional based on distance at event). There are background colors for Apogee and Perigee events, with optional diamond markers.

Chart with Full/New Moon markers and phase background colors:



Extended Functionality
This advanced version builds on the core Phase detection by adding Lunar orbit extremes with event tilt values:

Precise Perigee (closest approach) and Apogee (farthest away) markers optionally appear as red diamonds above the bar for Perigee and green diamonds below for Apogee.
Background tint shows whether the Moon is currently approaching Perigee (cyan shade) or Apogee (violet shade), giving instant visual context for distance expansion and contraction.

Chart with Apogee/Perigee markers and approaching background colors:



Accuracy:
New and Full Moon times are typically within ±few minutes
Distances are typically within ±10–100 km
Tilt values are typically within ±0.01° of astronomically true.

The Info Table expands to three columns:
Current — live phase name and live geocentric distance
Next Phase — upcoming New or Full Moon, countdown timer, and expected distance
Next Extreme — upcoming Perigee or Apogee, countdown timer, and expected distance


Settings:
Thresholds group:

• "Full"/"New" checkboxes turn SuperMoon and MicroMoon individually on or off for each
  
• Distance inputs let you set your own km cutoffs for what counts as super or micro (defaults are common values around 369,000 km and 405,000 km)
  
• Start Date and End Date control the time range the script scans for events (default 2010–2028)
  

BackGround Color group:

• "Current Phase" checkbox turns the Waxing/Waning background colors on or off
  
• Color pickers let you choose your own Waxing (default purple shade) and Waning (default blue shade)
  
• "Approaching" checkbox turns the Apogee/Perigee background colors on or off
  
• Color pickers let you choose your own Perigee (default cyan shade) and Apogee (default violet shade)
  

Information group:

• "Show Info Table" turns the top-right panel on or off
  
• "(New/Full)" checkbox adds detailed labels directly on New/Full bars with user selected time-zone, distance, and Lunar tilt from Earths Ecliptic
  
• "(Peri/Apo)" checkbox adds detailed labels directly on Peri/Apo bars with user selected time-zone, distance, and Lunar tilt from Earths Ecliptic
  
• Drop down time-zone for label
  

Powered by multiple 50-term approximations of the ELP2000-82B lunar theory.
Disclaimer: The script was developed with assistance from Grok 4.1, always under human supervision and decision-making.