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

Waning Gibbous in Aquarius

Waning Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 71% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 20 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the evening and sets in the morning. It is visible to the southwest and it is high in the sky after midnight.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♒ Aquarius

Moon is passing about ∠10° of ♒ Aquarius tropical zodiac sector.

5 days after Full Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the Full Moon before 5 days on 20 May 2046 at 03:15.

Flower Moon before 5 days

Next Full Moon is the Strawberry Moon of June 2046 after 24 days on 18 June 2046 at 13:10.

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 ∠1794"

Lunar disc appears visually 5.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1794" and ∠1894".

Lunation 573 / 1526

The Moon is 20 days old and navigating from the middle to the last 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 before apogee

8 days since point of perigee on 16 May 2046 at 23:31 in ♎ Libra 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 28 May 2046 at 21:55 in ♓ Pisces.

Distance to Moon 399 610 km

The Moon is 399 610 km (248 306 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 334 km (251 241 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♒ Aquarius at 04:58 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 8 June 2046 at 09:42 in ♌ Leo.

Moon after southern standstill

3 days since the last southern standstill on 21 May 2046 at 18:34 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.705° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠26.677° at the point of next northern standstill on 5 June 2046 at 05:17 in ♊ Gemini.

New draconic month

At 04:58 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 10 days

In 10 days on 4 June 2046 at 15:22 in ♊ Gemini 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