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

First Quarter in Libra

First Quarter on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 49% and growing larger. The lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 23 June 2034 at 14:35 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

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 is entering ♎ Libra

Moon is passing first ∠1° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.

Buck Moon after 8 days

Next Full Moon is the Buck Moon of July 2034 after 8 days on 1 July 2034 at 17:44.

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 ∠1798"

Lunar disc appears visually 4.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1798" and ∠1888".

Lunation 426 / 1379

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 426 of Meeus index or 1379 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.33 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes and it is 1 hour and 49 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 4 hours and 55 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 14 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠25.4°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠25.4° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠45.9°.

Moon before apogee

8 days since point of perigee on 14 June 2034 at 21:42 in ♉ Taurus the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 27 June 2034 at 00:19 in ♏ Scorpio.

Distance to Moon 398 674 km

The Moon is 398 674 km (247 725 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 126 km (251 734 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♍ Virgo at 06:36 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 14 days until Moon's next descending node later on 7 July 2034 at 14:33 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon after northern standstill

6 days since the last northern standstill on 16 June 2034 at 18:29 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.417° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.423° at the point of next southern standstill on 30 June 2034 at 23:50 in ♐ Sagittarius.

New draconic month

At 06:36 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 8 days

In 8 days on 1 July 2034 at 17:44 in ♑ Capricorn 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