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

Waxing Gibbous in Cancer

Waxing Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 84% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 11 days young.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing about ∠11° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

3 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 3 days on 11 February 2057 at 12:25.

Snow Moon after 3 days

Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2057 after 3 days on 19 February 2057 at 11:56.

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 ∠1784"

Lunar disc appears visually 8.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1784" and ∠1942".

Lunation 706 / 1659

The Moon is 11 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 706 of Meeus index or 1659 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.55 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 14 minutes and it is 53 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 30 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 33 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠48.7°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠48.7° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠80°.

Moon after apogee

2 days since point of apogee on 12 February 2057 at 14:05 in ♉ Taurus the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 11 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 26 February 2057 at 15:47 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Distance to Moon 401 750 km

The Moon is 401 750 km (249 636 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 11 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 370 210 km (230 038 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♋ Cancer at 14:03 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 28 February 2057 at 18:40 in ♑ Capricorn.

Moon at northern standstill

At 14:48 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach North declination of ∠22.925°. Over the upcoming 13 days the lunar orbit is going to tilt southward to face maximum declination of ∠-23.014° at the point of next southern standstill in ♑ Capricorn on 28 February 2057 at 20:38.

New draconic month

At 14:03 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 3 days

In 3 days on 19 February 2057 at 11:56 in ♍ Virgo 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