New Delhi, Aug. 22 -- 20 UTC on August 22, at a distance of 404,644 km. That is as far away as the moon gets in this lunation, and it is the reason the full moon arriving next week will be one of the smaller ones of 2026. The moon phase today, August 22, 2026, is a Waxing Gibbous, around 72 percent illuminated and roughly ten days into the cycle that opened with the total solar eclipse of August 12.

Nothing about that distance is visible to the eye. The disc spans a little under 30 arcminutes tonight against a perigee moon's 33, and a few percent of angular width sits well below what human vision resolves without something to compare it against. It is measurable rather than noticeable, and it matters mainly for what it sets up on the 28t...