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

Waxing Crescent in Gemini

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 2% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 1 day 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 ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 1 day on 6 May 2046 at 02:56.

Flower Moon after 12 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2046 after 12 days on 20 May 2046 at 03:15.

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 ∠1841"

Lunar disc appears visually 3.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1841" and ∠1901".

Lunation 573 / 1526

The Moon is 1 day young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 573 of Meeus index or 1526 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.52 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 26 minutes and it is 2 hours and 10 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 18 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 51 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠239.2°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠239.2° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠274°.

Moon after apogee

6 days since point of apogee on 1 May 2046 at 03:41 in ♓ Pisces the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 16 May 2046 at 23:31 in ♎ Libra.

Distance to Moon 389 398 km

The Moon is 389 398 km (241 961 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 9 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 365 910 km (227 366 mi).

Moon before descending node

9 days after ascending node on 28 April 2046 at 02:09 in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 4 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 12 May 2046 at 07:55 in ♌ Leo.

Moon before northern standstill

13 days since the last southern standstill on 24 April 2046 at 09:26 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.852° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠26.750° at the point of next northern standstill on 8 May 2046 at 23:01 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 12 days

In 12 days on 20 May 2046 at 03:15 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