Last Quarter Moon
Last Quarter MoonImage credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.(large image)

Last Quarter in Scorpio

Last Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 51% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 22 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 3 February 2013 at 13:56 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♏ Scorpio

Moon is passing about ∠14° of ♏ Scorpio tropical zodiac sector.

Snow Moon after 22 days

Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2013 after 22 days on 25 February 2013 at 20:26.

Neap tide

There is low ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at big angle, so their combined tidal force is weak.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1957"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.5% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1957" and ∠1946".

Lunation 161 / 1114

The Moon is 22 days old and navigating through the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 161 of Meeus index or 1114 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.48 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 36 minutes and it is 55 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increase with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).

Lunation length shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 1 hour and 8 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 1 minute longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠23.3°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠23.3° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠44.2°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 22 January 2013 at 10:52 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 4 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 7 February 2013 at 12:09 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 366 251 km

The Moon is 366 251 km (227 578 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 4 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 365 314 km (226 996 mi).

Moon before ascending node

13 days after descending node on 21 January 2013 at 01:19 in ♉ Taurus the Moon is positioned south of the ecliptic over the following day until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from South to North in ascending node on 4 February 2013 at 02:14 in ♏ Scorpio.

Moon before southern standstill

11 days since the last northern standstill on 23 January 2013 at 05:12 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠20.816° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠-20.704° at the point of next southern standstill on 6 February 2013 at 00:27 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

26 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♏ Scorpio the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 10 February 2013 at 07:20 in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy alignment.

Lunar calendar

Sources and credits

Parts of this Lunar Calendar are based on Planetary Ephemeris Data Courtesy of Fred Espenak, www.Astropixels.com

Moon phase image credit to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, svs.gsfc.nasa.gov