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

Waning Crescent in Sagittarius

Waning Crescent on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 10% and getting smaller. The lunar cycle is 26 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

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 in ♐ Sagittarius

Moon is passing about ∠14° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.

4 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 4 days on 7 January 2040 at 11:05.

Wolf Moon after 17 days

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2040 after 17 days on 29 January 2040 at 07:54.

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 ∠1968"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.9% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1968" and ∠1951".

Lunation 494 / 1447

The Moon is 26 days old and navigating from the second to the final 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 before perigee

12 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 day until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 13 January 2040 at 10:03 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 364 191 km

The Moon is 364 191 km (226 298 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next day until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 769 km (222 307 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♐ Sagittarius at 10:06 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 24 January 2040 at 12:28 in ♊ Gemini.

Moon before southern standstill

11 days 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 day 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

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

Syzygy in 2 days

In 2 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