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

Waning Gibbous in Gemini

Waning Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 83% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 18 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the evening and sets in the morning. It is visible to the southwest and it is high in the sky after midnight.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠11° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

4 days after Full Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the Full Moon before 4 days on 12 October 2011 at 02:06.

Hunter Moon before 4 days

Next Full Moon is the Beaver Moon of November 2011 after 25 days on 10 November 2011 at 20:16.

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 ∠1801"

Lunar disc appears visually 6.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1801" and ∠1925".

Lunation 145 / 1098

The Moon is 18 days old and navigating from the middle to the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 145 of Meeus index or 1098 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.37 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 47 minutes and it is 1 hour and 27 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 3 hours and 57 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 12 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠350.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠350.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠5.3°.

Moon after apogee

4 days since point of apogee on 12 October 2011 at 11:43 in ♈ Aries the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 10 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 26 October 2011 at 12:26 in ♎ Libra.

Distance to Moon 398 045 km

The Moon is 398 045 km (247 334 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 10 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 051 km (221 861 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♊ Gemini at 21:01 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 29 October 2011 at 14:59 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon before northern standstill

14 days since the last southern standstill on 2 October 2011 at 11:38 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-22.791° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠22.665° at the point of next northern standstill on 17 October 2011 at 02:06 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 10 days

In 10 days on 26 October 2011 at 19:56 in ♎ Libra 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