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

First Quarter in Cancer

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 55% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 8 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 26 March 2045 at 00:56 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

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

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing about ∠12° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

Pink Moon after 6 days

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2045 after 6 days on 1 April 2045 at 18:43.

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 ∠1966"

Lunar disc appears visually 2.2% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1966" and ∠1923".

Lunation 559 / 1512

The Moon is 8 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 559 of Meeus index or 1512 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.59 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 12 minutes and it is 3 hours and 12 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decrease with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).

Lunation length longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 1 hour and 28 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 35 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠238.6°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠238.6° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠274.3°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 13 March 2045 at 18:23 in ♑ Capricorn the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 29 March 2045 at 17:25 in ♌ Leo.

Distance to Moon 364 645 km

The Moon is 364 645 km (226 580 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 365 846 km (227 326 mi).

Moon before descending node

9 days after ascending node on 16 March 2045 at 12:51 in ♓ Pisces the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 3 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 29 March 2045 at 22:04 in ♌ Leo.

Moon after northern standstill

1 day since the last northern standstill on 25 March 2045 at 07:00 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.089° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠-28.012° at the point of next southern standstill on 7 April 2045 at 06:59 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

9 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♓ Pisces the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 1 April 2045 at 18:43 in ♎ Libra 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