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

Waning Crescent in Capricorn

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 2% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 28 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon is entering ♑ Capricorn

Moon is passing first ∠2° of ♑ Capricorn tropical zodiac sector.

6 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 6 days on 1 January 2054 at 01:11.

Wolf Moon after 16 days

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2054 after 16 days on 23 January 2054 at 20:08.

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 ∠1781"

Lunar disc appears visually 9.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1781" and ∠1951".

Lunation 667 / 1620

The Moon is 28 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 667 of Meeus index or 1620 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.79 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 53 minutes and it is 47 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2054. 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 6 hours and 9 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 54 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠141.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠141.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠168.6°.

Moon before apogee

12 days since point of perigee on 26 December 2053 at 06:40 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 2 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 10 January 2054 at 05:56 in ♒ Aquarius.

Distance to Moon 402 517 km

The Moon is 402 517 km (250 112 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 2 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 537 km (252 610 mi).

Moon before descending node

8 days after ascending node on 29 December 2053 at 18:29 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 5 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 13 January 2054 at 02:36 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon at southern standstill

At 19:44 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach South declination of ∠-18.772°. Over the upcoming 14 days the lunar orbit is going to tilt northward to face maximum declination of ∠18.720° at the point of next northern standstill in ♊ Gemini on 21 January 2054 at 23:45.

Draconic month

8 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 1 day

In 1 day on 8 January 2054 at 22:34 in ♑ Capricorn 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