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

Waning Gibbous in Leo

Waning Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 97% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 16 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 is entering ♌ Leo

Moon is passing first ∠2° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after Full Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the Full Moon before 1 day on 30 December 2039 at 12:37.

Cold Moon before 1 day

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2040 after 27 days on 29 January 2040 at 07:54.

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 ∠1782"

Lunar disc appears visually 9.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1782" and ∠1951".

Lunation 494 / 1447

The Moon is 16 days old and navigating from the middle to the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 494 of Meeus index or 1447 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.45 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 53 minutes and it is 6 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 1 hour and 51 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 18 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠356.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠356.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠12.4°.

Moon after apogee

2 days since point of apogee on 29 December 2039 at 16:34 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 11 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 13 January 2040 at 10:03 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 402 239 km

The Moon is 402 239 km (249 940 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 11 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 769 km (222 307 mi).

Moon after ascending node

4 days after ascending node on 28 December 2039 at 08:24 in ♊ Gemini the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 9 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 11 January 2040 at 10:06 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon after northern standstill

1 day since the last northern standstill on 30 December 2039 at 16:29 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠25.448° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠-25.460° at the point of next southern standstill on 13 January 2040 at 06:43 in ♑ Capricorn.

Draconic month

4 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♊ Gemini the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 12 days

In 12 days on 14 January 2040 at 03:25 in ♑ Capricorn 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