About the creator
The actual sky. An open question.
LuNAC began years ago in an Excel spreadsheet, with a question I wanted to investigate for myself.
The beginning
The calendar I had could not measure the time I wanted to study.
I wanted to compare lunar, planetary, and other celestial cycles with what I noticed in plants, people, and everyday life. But the calendar I used every day could not show me where one lunar cycle ended and the next began.
The Gregorian calendar is useful for organizing civil life and keeping pace with the solar year. Its months, though, are not tied to the Moon. A new moon can fall on any Gregorian date, and one lunar cycle crosses those month boundaries.
If I wanted to compare like with like, I needed each month to begin at the same astronomical event: the new moon. I also needed to know where the Moon and planets actually were, and what I had observed alongside them.
The actual sky had to come first.
From sheet to sky
Before I could research it, I had to build it.
I couldn't find one place that combined an astronomical reference, a lunar calendar structure, and space for personal observation. So I opened Excel.
At first, the spreadsheet was simply a tool for my own questions. Then I started thinking about how useful it could be as an app: a calendar that moved with the sky, kept the astronomical reference close, and gave observations a place beside it.
I went looking for that app. I found Moon phase trackers, astrology apps, and ordinary calendars with lunar information added to them. What I could not find was a deterministic Moon and sky calendar—one where the Moon defined the months, actual sky positions provided the reference, and the same astronomical rules produced the same result every time.
How did this not already exist?
Years before the app and printed calendar, there was a spreadsheet and a reason to keep working on it. LuNAC grew from the same need: a way to follow real lunar and planetary cycles, place observations in context, and return to them over time.
A pattern should have the chance to emerge from a record. The record should also be able to show when that pattern isn't there.
Curiosity & accuracy
Curiosity needs a clear starting point.
Gardening, my studies toward ethnobotany, and an interest in ancient knowledge all lead me toward questions about how people understand and interact with the natural world. I'm drawn to symbolism, too.
I don't think curiosity has to stop where certainty ends. I simply want the distinctions to remain clear: what was calculated, what I observed, and what I am interpreting. For me, accuracy is what makes deeper investigation possible.
- Calculated
- What the astronomical models establish.
- Observed
- What you notice and record for yourself.
- Interpreted
- The meaning you may—or may not—find there.
A calendar you can live with
The Moon defines the month. The sky provides the reference. Your observations build the record.
LuNAC follows astronomical lunar months and actual constellations—including Ophiuchus. Each month begins at the astronomical new moon, with lunar days and Gregorian dates alongside one another.
The app and printed moon calendar bring that structure into daily life. You can follow the cycle, make a note, and return later. On the printed pages, those observations have a physical home, in your own handwriting, where you can see them accumulate.
Keep exploring
The question is still open.
LuNAC is the kind of tool I wanted when I began: useful enough to live with, clear enough to question, and open enough to support discoveries I haven't imagined. I built it so I could start with the sky.