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

Waxing Crescent in Taurus

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 9% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 3 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 ♉ Taurus

Moon is leaving the last ∠1° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♊ Gemini later.

2 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 2 days on 11 April 2040 at 14:00.

Pink Moon after 12 days

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2040 after 12 days on 27 April 2040 at 02:38.

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 ∠1796"

Lunar disc appears visually 6.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1796" and ∠1912".

Lunation 498 / 1451

The Moon is 3 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 498 of Meeus index or 1451 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.56 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes and it is 1 hour and 7 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 44 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 19 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠86°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠86° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠122.1°.

Moon before apogee

10 days since point of perigee on 3 April 2040 at 20:39 in ♐ Sagittarius 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 18 April 2040 at 07:16 in ♋ Cancer.

Distance to Moon 399 058 km

The Moon is 399 058 km (247 963 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 364 km (251 260 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♉ Taurus at 21:15 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 28 April 2040 at 22:56 in ♏ Scorpio.

Moon before northern standstill

10 days since the last southern standstill on 4 April 2040 at 04:16 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.010° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 3 days to face maximum declination of ∠26.101° at the point of next northern standstill on 17 April 2040 at 20:06 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 21:15 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 12 days

In 12 days on 27 April 2040 at 02:38 in ♏ Scorpio 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