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

Waxing Gibbous in Libra

Waxing Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 99% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 14 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 ♎ Libra

Moon is passing about ∠25° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.

6 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 6 days on 17 April 2070 at 17:32.

Pink Moon after 1 day

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2070 after 1 day on 25 April 2070 at 09:31.

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 ∠1791"

Lunar disc appears visually 6.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1791" and ∠1907".

Lunation 869 / 1822

The Moon is 14 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 869 of Meeus index or 1822 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.36 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 38 minutes and it is 1 hour and 22 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 4 hours and 6 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 3 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠333.5°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠333.5° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠350.2°.

Moon before apogee

11 days since point of perigee on 12 April 2070 at 16:43 in ♉ Taurus the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 28 April 2070 at 06:11 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Distance to Moon 400 198 km

The Moon is 400 198 km (248 672 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 893 km (252 210 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♎ Libra at 13:41 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 14 days until Moon's next descending node later on 8 May 2070 at 19:39 in ♈ Aries.

Moon before southern standstill

9 days since the last northern standstill on 15 April 2070 at 06:43 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.748° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.761° at the point of next southern standstill on 29 April 2070 at 10:16 in ♐ Sagittarius.

New draconic month

At 13:41 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 1 day

In 1 day on 25 April 2070 at 09:31 in ♏ Scorpio 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