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

Waxing Gibbous in Cancer

Waxing Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 85% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 11 days young.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

3 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 3 days on 22 February 2010 at 00:42.

Snow Moon after 3 days

Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2010 after 3 days on 28 February 2010 at 16:38.

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 ∠1964"

Lunar disc appears visually 1.3% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1964" and ∠1938".

Lunation 125 / 1078

The Moon is 11 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 125 of Meeus index or 1078 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.76 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 10 minutes and it is 2 hours and 42 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decrease with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).

Lunation length longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 5 hours and 26 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 37 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠188.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠188.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠215.2°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 13 February 2010 at 02:06 in ♒ Aquarius 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 27 February 2010 at 21:40 in ♌ Leo.

Distance to Moon 364 928 km

The Moon is 364 928 km (226 756 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 2 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 832 km (222 346 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♋ Cancer at 09:11 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 12 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 10 March 2010 at 08:07 in ♑ Capricorn.

Moon after northern standstill

2 days since the last northern standstill on 23 February 2010 at 06:00 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠25.657° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-25.566° at the point of next southern standstill on 7 March 2010 at 21:18 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

14 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♑ Capricorn the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 3 days

In 3 days on 28 February 2010 at 16:38 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