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

First Quarter in Cancer

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 60% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 8 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 13 March 2057 at 09:35 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 ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing about ∠6° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

Worm Moon after 6 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2057 after 6 days on 21 March 2057 at 00:45.

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 ∠1777"

Lunar disc appears visually 8.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1777" and ∠1929".

Lunation 707 / 1660

The Moon is 8 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 707 of Meeus index or 1660 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.59 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 7 minutes and it is 54 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 1 hour and 23 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 40 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠80°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠80° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠117°.

Moon after apogee

2 days since point of apogee on 12 March 2057 at 10:58 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 24 March 2057 at 08:23 in ♏ Scorpio.

Distance to Moon 403 255 km

The Moon is 403 255 km (250 571 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 9 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 366 570 km (227 776 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♋ Cancer at 17:54 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 27 March 2057 at 19:16 in ♑ Capricorn.

Moon at northern standstill

At 22:50 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach North declination of ∠23.130°. Over the upcoming 13 days the lunar orbit is going to tilt southward to face maximum declination of ∠-23.258° at the point of next southern standstill in ♑ Capricorn on 28 March 2057 at 01:43.

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 6 days

In 6 days on 21 March 2057 at 00:45 in ♎ Libra 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