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

Waxing Crescent in Gemini

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 6% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 2 days young.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest 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 ∠16° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 1 day on 5 May 2008 at 12:18.

Flower Moon after 12 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2008 after 12 days on 20 May 2008 at 02:11.

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 ∠1971"

Lunar disc appears visually 3.6% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1971" and ∠1901".

Lunation 103 / 1056

The Moon is 2 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 103 of Meeus index or 1056 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.29 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 4 minutes and it is 8 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 5 hours and 40 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 29 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠349.4°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠349.4° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠4.4°.

Moon after perigee

1 day since point of perigee on 6 May 2008 at 03:22 in ♉ Taurus the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 13 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 20 May 2008 at 14:27 in ♏ Scorpio.

Distance to Moon 363 687 km

The Moon is 363 687 km (225 985 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 13 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 404 km (252 528 mi).

Moon before descending node

7 days after ascending node on 29 April 2008 at 20:07 in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 4 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 12 May 2008 at 06:37 in ♌ Leo.

Moon before northern standstill

12 days since the last southern standstill on 24 April 2008 at 22:36 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-27.695° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠27.625° at the point of next northern standstill on 8 May 2008 at 01:51 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

7 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 12 days

In 12 days on 20 May 2008 at 02:11 in ♏ Scorpio 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