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

Waning Crescent in Aquarius

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 21% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 25 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

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

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♒ Aquarius

Moon is passing about ∠18° of ♒ Aquarius tropical zodiac sector.

3 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 3 days on 29 March 2046 at 06:57.

Pink Moon after 19 days

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2046 after 19 days on 20 April 2046 at 18:21.

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 ∠1779"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1779" and ∠1920".

Lunation 571 / 1524

The Moon is 25 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 571 of Meeus index or 1524 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.73 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 17 hours and 36 minutes and it is 2 hours and 32 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 4 hours and 52 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 11 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠184.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠184.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠209.1°.

Moon before apogee

10 days since point of perigee on 21 March 2046 at 18:59 in ♍ Virgo the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 3 April 2046 at 12:45 in ♓ Pisces.

Distance to Moon 402 901 km

The Moon is 402 901 km (250 351 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 2 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 176 km (252 386 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♒ Aquarius at 00:32 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next descending node later on 15 April 2046 at 07:10 in ♌ Leo.

Moon after southern standstill

4 days since the last southern standstill on 28 March 2046 at 00:39 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-27.076° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠26.939° at the point of next northern standstill on 11 April 2046 at 17:57 in ♊ Gemini.

New draconic month

At 00:32 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 4 days

In 4 days on 6 April 2046 at 11:52 in ♈ Aries 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