First
Quarter ♑ Capricorn
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 48% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 48% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 21 September 2004 at 15:54 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is leaving the last ∠3° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♑ Capricorn later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1972"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1972" and ∠1912".
Harvest Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2004 after 7 days on 28 September 2004 at 13:09.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 28 September 2004 at 13:09
- Last Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 6 October 2004 at 10:12
- New Moon in Libra ♎ on 14 October 2004 at 02:48
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 20 October 2004 at 21:59
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.
Lunation 58 / 1011
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 58 of Meeus index or 1011 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.51 days
Length of current 58 lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 19 minutes. It is 40 minutes longer than next lunation 59 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 25 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 5 hours and 44 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠269.4°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠269.4°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠302.8°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon before perigee
13 days after point of apogee on 8 September 2004 at 02:42 in ♋ Cancer. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next day, until it get to the point of next perigee on 22 September 2004 at 21:12 in ♑ Capricorn.
Distance to Moon 363 497 km
Moon is 363 497 km (225 867 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next day until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 369 600 km (229 659 mi).
Moon after descending node
3 days after its descending node on 17 September 2004 at 14:51 in ♎ Libra, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 9 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 30 September 2004 at 13:30 in ♈ Aries.
Draconic month
18 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon before southern standstill
13 days after previous North standstill on 8 September 2004 at 09:40 in ♋ Cancer, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠27.870°. Next day the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-27.958° in the next southern standstill on 22 September 2004 at 02:36 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 7 days
After 7 days on 28 September 2004 at 13:09 in ♓ Pisces, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.