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

Waning Crescent in Leo

Waning Crescent on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 2% and getting smaller. The lunar cycle is 28 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

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

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♌ Leo

Moon is passing about ∠19° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.

5 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 5 days on 23 August 2008 at 23:50.

Harvest Moon after 16 days

Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2008 after 16 days on 15 September 2008 at 09:13.

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 ∠1915"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.8% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1915" and ∠1900".

Lunation 106 / 1059

The Moon is 28 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 106 of Meeus index or 1059 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.41 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 45 minutes and it is 2 hours and 29 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 2 hours and 59 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 10 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠39.2°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠39.2° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠64.9°.

Moon after perigee

3 days since point of perigee on 26 August 2008 at 03:44 in ♋ Cancer the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 7 September 2008 at 14:58 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Distance to Moon 374 273 km

The Moon is 374 273 km (232 562 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 9 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 210 km (251 164 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♌ Leo at 10:30 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 14 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 12 September 2008 at 18:24 in ♒ Aquarius.

Moon after northern standstill

3 days since the last northern standstill on 25 August 2008 at 13:03 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠27.596° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 9 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.550° at the point of next southern standstill on 8 September 2008 at 06:13 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 1 day

In 1 day on 30 August 2008 at 19:58 in ♍ Virgo 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