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

Waxing Crescent in Scorpio

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 40% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 6 days young.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♏ Scorpio

Moon is passing about ∠9° of ♏ Scorpio tropical zodiac sector.

6 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 6 days on 6 August 2013 at 21:51.

Sturgeon Moon after 7 days

Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2013 after 7 days on 21 August 2013 at 01:45.

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 ∠1924"

Lunar disc appears visually 1.6% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1924" and ∠1894".

Lunation 168 / 1121

The Moon is 6 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 168 of Meeus index or 1121 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.57 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 45 minutes and it is 47 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 1 hour and 1 minute longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 2 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠216.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠216.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠249.2°.

Moon before perigee

10 days since point of apogee on 3 August 2013 at 08:53 in ♋ Cancer the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 19 August 2013 at 01:26 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 372 509 km

The Moon is 372 509 km (231 466 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 5 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 362 265 km (225 101 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♏ Scorpio at 16:20 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 12 days until Moon's next descending node later on 26 August 2013 at 08:19 in ♉ Taurus.

Moon before southern standstill

11 days since the last northern standstill on 2 August 2013 at 09:24 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠20.025° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 3 days to face maximum declination of ∠-19.906° at the point of next southern standstill on 16 August 2013 at 12:06 in ♐ Sagittarius.

New draconic month

At 16:20 in the point ot ascending node the Moon is completing the last draconic month and is entering a new one while the lunar orbit is crossing the ecliptic from South to North.

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 21 August 2013 at 01:45 in ♒ Aquarius 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