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

First Quarter in Capricorn

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 49% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 26 September 2066 at 14:19 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 is entering ♑ Capricorn

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

Hunter Moon after 7 days

Next Full Moon is the Hunter Moon of October 2066 after 7 days on 3 October 2066 at 12:25.

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 ∠1972"

Lunar disc appears visually 3% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1972" and ∠1914".

Lunation 825 / 1778

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 825 of Meeus index or 1778 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.5 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 55 minutes and it is 32 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decrease with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).

Lunation length shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 49 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 20 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠272.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠272.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠304.7°.

Moon before perigee

13 days since point of apogee on 12 September 2066 at 22:49 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 27 September 2066 at 12:48 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 363 400 km

The Moon is 363 400 km (225 806 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next day until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 369 827 km (229 800 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♐ Sagittarius at 15:21 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 10 October 2066 at 02:19 in ♋ Cancer.

Moon after southern standstill

1 day since the last southern standstill on 25 September 2066 at 13:22 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-24.274° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 12 days to face maximum declination of ∠24.153° at the point of next northern standstill on 8 October 2066 at 22:14 in ♊ Gemini.

New draconic month

At 15:21 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 7 days

In 7 days on 3 October 2066 at 12:25 in ♈ Aries 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