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

First Quarter in Pisces

First Quarter on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 59% and growing larger. The lunar cycle is 8 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 18 November 2053 at 13:26 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♓ Pisces

Moon is passing about ∠8° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector.

Beaver Moon after 6 days

Next Full Moon is the Beaver Moon of November 2053 after 6 days on 25 November 2053 at 22:21.

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 ∠1795"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1795" and ∠1942".

Lunation 666 / 1619

The Moon is 8 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 666 of Meeus index or 1619 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.7 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 45 minutes and it is 2 hours and 8 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 1 minute longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 2 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠106.8°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠106.8° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠141.1°.

Moon after apogee

3 days since point of apogee on 16 November 2053 at 03:37 in ♑ Capricorn the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 8 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 27 November 2053 at 23:02 in ♊ Gemini.

Distance to Moon 399 411 km

The Moon is 399 411 km (248 182 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 8 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 362 464 km (225 225 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♓ Pisces at 23:07 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 2 December 2053 at 16:41 in ♍ Virgo.

Moon after southern standstill

5 days since the last southern standstill on 14 November 2053 at 03:32 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-18.637° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 8 days to face maximum declination of ∠18.707° at the point of next northern standstill on 27 November 2053 at 23:44 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 25 November 2053 at 22:21 in ♉ Taurus 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