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

Waxing Crescent in Virgo

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 3% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 2 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 in ♍ Virgo

Moon is passing about ∠13° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 1 day on 14 August 2053 at 00:41.

Sturgeon Moon after 13 days

Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2053 after 13 days on 29 August 2053 at 07:53.

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 ∠1925"

Lunar disc appears visually 1.6% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1925" and ∠1895".

Lunation 663 / 1616

The Moon is 2 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 663 of Meeus index or 1616 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.37 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 55 minutes and it is 2 hours and 23 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 3 hours and 49 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 20 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠23.3°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠23.3° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠43.5°.

Moon after perigee

2 days since point of perigee on 12 August 2053 at 14:58 in ♋ Cancer the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 24 August 2053 at 18:27 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 372 324 km

The Moon is 372 324 km (231 351 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 9 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 238 km (251 803 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♍ Virgo at 17:54 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 14 days until Moon's next descending node later on 30 August 2053 at 03:39 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon after northern standstill

4 days since the last northern standstill on 10 August 2053 at 19:35 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.377° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 8 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.341° at the point of next southern standstill on 24 August 2053 at 02:41 in ♑ Capricorn.

New draconic month

At 17:54 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 13 days

In 13 days on 29 August 2053 at 07:53 in ♓ Pisces 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