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

First Quarter in Cancer

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 51% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 23 March 2010 at 11:00 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 is entering ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

Worm Moon after 6 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2010 after 6 days on 30 March 2010 at 02:25.

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 ∠1941"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.9% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1941" and ∠1925".

Lunation 126 / 1079

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 126 of Meeus index or 1079 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.64 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 15 hours and 28 minutes and it is 2 hours and 53 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 2 hours and 44 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 19 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠215.2°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠215.2° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠247.4°.

Moon before perigee

11 days since point of apogee on 12 March 2010 at 10:07 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 4 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 28 March 2010 at 04:56 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 369 193 km

The Moon is 369 193 km (229 406 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 4 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 361 877 km (224 860 mi).

Moon before descending node

13 days after ascending node on 10 March 2010 at 08:07 in ♑ Capricorn the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following day until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 24 March 2010 at 13:05 in ♋ Cancer.

Moon after northern standstill

1 day since the last northern standstill on 22 March 2010 at 12:15 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠25.420° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠-25.311° at the point of next southern standstill on 4 April 2010 at 05:23 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 30 March 2010 at 02:25 in ♎ Libra 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