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

Waxing Crescent in Cancer

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 10% 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 is entering ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing first ∠2° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

3 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 3 days on 11 May 2040 at 03:28.

Flower Moon after 11 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2040 after 11 days on 26 May 2040 at 11:47.

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 ∠1771"

Lunar disc appears visually 6.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1771" and ∠1898".

Lunation 499 / 1452

The Moon is 3 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 499 of Meeus index or 1452 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.61 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 35 minutes and it is 37 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 1 hour and 51 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 12 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠122.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠122.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠152°.

Moon before apogee

14 days since point of perigee on 30 April 2040 at 04:22 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 day until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 16 May 2040 at 01:01 in ♋ Cancer.

Distance to Moon 404 735 km

The Moon is 404 735 km (251 491 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 171 km (251 762 mi).

Moon after ascending node

2 days after ascending node on 12 May 2040 at 04:05 in ♊ Gemini the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 11 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 26 May 2040 at 08:27 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon before northern standstill

13 days since the last southern standstill on 1 May 2040 at 10:16 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.155° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠26.185° at the point of next northern standstill on 15 May 2040 at 03:53 in ♋ Cancer.

Draconic month

2 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 11 days

In 11 days on 26 May 2040 at 11:47 in ♐ Sagittarius 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