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

First Quarter in Gemini

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 46% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 6 March 2006 at 20:16 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠12° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

Worm Moon after 8 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2006 after 8 days on 14 March 2006 at 23:35.

Moderate tide

There is medium ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at very acute angle, so their combined tidal force is moderate.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1859"

Lunar disc appears visually 4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1859" and ∠1934".

Lunation 76 / 1029

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 76 of Meeus index or 1029 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.41 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 44 minutes and it is 15 minutes longer 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 3 hours shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 9 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠2.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠2.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠19°.

Moon before apogee

6 days since point of perigee on 27 February 2006 at 20:27 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 6 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 13 March 2006 at 01:44 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 385 661 km

The Moon is 385 661 km (239 639 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 6 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 273 km (252 446 mi).

Moon after ascending node

4 days after ascending node on 1 March 2006 at 16:25 in ♓ Pisces the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 9 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 15 March 2006 at 19:52 in ♍ Virgo.

Moon before northern standstill

11 days since the last southern standstill on 23 February 2006 at 09:37 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-28.648° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠28.694° at the point of next northern standstill on 8 March 2006 at 00:05 in ♋ Cancer.

Draconic month

4 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♓ Pisces the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 8 days

In 8 days on 14 March 2006 at 23:35 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is going to be in a Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Earth-Moon 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