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

Waning Crescent in Taurus

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 18% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 25 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♉ Taurus

Moon is passing about ∠18° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.

2 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 2 days on 26 June 2008 at 12:10.

Buck Moon after 18 days

Next Full Moon is the Buck Moon of July 2008 after 18 days on 18 July 2008 at 07:59.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1966"

Lunar disc appears visually 4.1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1966" and ∠1887".

Lunation 104 / 1057

The Moon is 25 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 104 of Meeus index or 1057 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.29 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 6 hours and 56 minutes and it is 58 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2008. 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 48 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 21 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠4.4°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠4.4° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠20.1°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 16 June 2008 at 17:33 in ♏ Scorpio the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 1 July 2008 at 21:22 in ♊ Gemini.

Distance to Moon 364 526 km

The Moon is 364 526 km (226 506 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 2 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 359 513 km (223 391 mi).

Moon before descending node

6 days after ascending node on 22 June 2008 at 23:17 in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 6 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 5 July 2008 at 15:53 in ♌ Leo.

Moon before northern standstill

11 days since the last southern standstill on 18 June 2008 at 09:08 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-27.510° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠27.541° at the point of next northern standstill on 1 July 2008 at 21:36 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

6 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 3 days

In 3 days on 3 July 2008 at 02:19 in ♋ Cancer 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