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

First Quarter in Sagittarius

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 46% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 19 September 2053 at 21:29 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 ♐ Sagittarius

Moon is passing about ∠23° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.

Harvest Moon after 8 days

Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2053 after 8 days on 27 September 2053 at 21:50.

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 ∠1778"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1778" and ∠1911".

Lunation 664 / 1617

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 664 of Meeus index or 1617 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.47 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 18 minutes and it is 2 hours and 44 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 1 hour and 26 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 43 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠43.5°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠43.5° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠71.2°.

Moon before apogee

9 days since point of perigee on 9 September 2053 at 15:22 in ♌ Leo the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 21 September 2053 at 11:30 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 403 138 km

The Moon is 403 138 km (250 498 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 434 km (251 304 mi).

Moon before descending node

7 days after ascending node on 12 September 2053 at 03:56 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 6 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 26 September 2053 at 11:14 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon before southern standstill

12 days since the last northern standstill on 7 September 2053 at 03:16 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.322° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠-18.328° at the point of next southern standstill on 20 September 2053 at 10:22 in ♑ Capricorn.

Draconic month

7 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♍ Virgo the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 8 days

In 8 days on 27 September 2053 at 21:50 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