Minecraft:Moon

File:Moon Phases.gif

The moon, showing its phases (viewed on the eastern sky)

The moon is a celestial body that appears in the night sky in the Overworld.

Nighttime

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Nighttime begins after the sun has fully set in the west and the moon has risen in the east. As time passes, the moon moves westward across the sky. Overall, nighttime lasts about 7 minutes (in real-time). Players can track the moon's position in the sky using a Minecraft:clock.

During the night, the moon illuminates the surface in the same manner as the sun; however, light levels fall to a minimum of four.

File:Moonlight Vibrant Visuals.png

Moonlight with Vibrant Visuals.

With Minecraft:Vibrant Visuals, the moon is considered a directional light source, which can create pixelated shadows and bright reflections on Minecraft:water and smooth textures. A pixelated blue glow appears around the moon depending on the moon phase.

The moon is not visible during precipitation, even in dry biomes in Template:Editions. Disabling "Beautiful Skies" in Template:Editions (Simple or Fancy graphics) completely hides the moon. The moon also disappears in Bedrock Edition during daytime, where it is still visible below the void in Java Edition.

Grass blocks and Minecraft:saplings do not grow in moonlight, nor do they decay. To grow them at night requires the use of light sources such as Minecraft:torches. On the other hand, crops can continue to grow with sufficient client light, even if not lit up by torches.Template:Only

Nighttime can be skipped entirely using a Minecraft:bed, provided there are no monsters nearby.

Stars

Together with the moon, the night sky also consists of stars. Stars appear as bright points, and the starfield rotates with the moon, rising in the east and descending in the west, as the night progresses.

Phases

File:Moon.png

The full moon phase

The moon is always opposite of the sun, but still goes through eight lunar phases, and changes phase at the end of every sunrise. This allows the player to keep rough track of the passage of time, even after spending a few game days underground.

The phases of the moon are (in chronological order as they appear in-game, which are in the direction of real moon phases in the southern hemisphere except in Bedrock Edition where it's in reverse):

1. Full Moon
2. Waning Gibbous
3. Third Quarter
4. Waning Crescent
5. New Moon
6. Waxing Crescent
7. First Quarter
8. Waxing Gibbous

The pixels of the first quarter phase moon and waxing gibbous moon present a more rounded, organic shape than the corresponding waning phase moons that show a more squared-off appearance. It can help a player in timing a slime hunt in a swamp (see below).

There is no explicit command to change the moon's phase, but using

1. REDIRECT Template:Command

Template:Redr advances time by one day toward the next phase. To go back one phase, using

1. REDIRECT Template:Command

Template:Redr advances time by 7 days, which is one full lunar cycle minus one moon phase.

There is an equation to calculate the moon phase on any given day in Minecraft: phase = (day mod 8) + 1. The day can be found in the F3 screen in Template:Editions, or by enabling the "Show days played" world setting in Template:Editions, and the phase matches to the list shown above.

Effects on mobs

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File:SlimesAtNight.png

Slimes spawning in a swamp during the full moon (view of eastern sky; moon rising)

The phase of the moon has three subtle effects on mob spawning:

• The number of slimes that spawn in swamps is proportional to the moon's fullness: They are most numerous during the full moon and none spawn during the new moon. (The moon's phase does not influence the normal spawning of slimes in designated chunks at altitudes below y=40.)
• The moon phase affects the regional difficulty, increasing the chance that (1) skeletons and Minecraft:zombies have the ability to pick up items and spawn with weapons and armor, (2) their natural equipment is enchanted, and (3) any equipment enchantments are higher. Regional difficulty also gives spiders a greater chance to spawn with random beneficial status effects, including invisibilityTemplate:Only in Hard difficulty. All of these effects combine with the world's difficulty, and higher difficulty levels increase the chance of mob buffs.
• Only during a full moon, black cats have a 1/11 chance of spawning.

History

Trivia

• One Minecraft lunar cycle (from full moon to full moon) takes 2 hours and 40 minutes of playtime. This means there are approximately 9 lunar cycles in one real-world day (24 hours) of play.
• There is a patch of the full moon that is off color, being Template:Color instead of Template:Color. This can be found 1 4×4 patch above the bottom right corner.

Gallery

Screenshots

• The full moon and the stars in the night sky
  The full moon and the stars in the night sky
• Moonrise in the forest
  Moonrise in the forest
• The moon shines through the trees of a dark forest.
  The moon shines through the trees of a dark forest.
• A crescent moon rises over the hills.
  A crescent moon rises over the hills.
• The moon peeks through the opening of a cave.
  The moon peeks through the opening of a cave.

Mojang screenshots

• The separate moon phases in Minecraft.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref> (viewed in the eastern sky; rising)
  The separate moon phases in Minecraft.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref> (viewed in the eastern sky; rising)
• The separate moon phases in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4 and Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5.
  The separate moon phases in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4 and Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5.
• The old round and square sun and moon textures
  The old round and square sun and moon textures
• File:Magenta Sheep reinforcements 2.jpg
• File:Magenta Sheep reinforcements 3.jpg

In other media

• File:Steve and wolves howling.jpeg
• Alex, Minecraft:Efe, and a cat during a full moon.
  Alex, Minecraft:Efe, and a cat during a full moon.
• The moon in Minecraft x Marketplace Pass
  The moon in Minecraft x Marketplace Pass
• File:Three Creeper Moon JINX.jpg
• The moon as it appears in #REDIRECT Template:AMCM Template:Redr
  The moon as it appears in

  1. REDIRECT Template:AMCM

  Template:Redr

See also

• Sun
• Minecraft:The Moon (April Fools' dimension)

References

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