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 89% 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 ♎ Libra

Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.

4 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 4 days on 17 May 2070 at 02:30.

Flower Moon after 3 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2070 after 3 days on 25 May 2070 at 01:37.

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 ∠1798"

Lunar disc appears visually 5.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1798" and ∠1895".

Lunation 870 / 1823

The Moon is 11 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 870 of Meeus index or 1823 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.3 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 16 minutes and it is 26 minutes longer 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 5 hours and 28 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 41 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠350.2°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠350.2° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠5.3°.

Moon before apogee

10 days since point of perigee on 11 May 2070 at 01:00 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 25 May 2070 at 10:55 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Distance to Moon 398 715 km

The Moon is 398 715 km (247 750 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 329 km (252 481 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♎ Libra at 18:54 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 5 June 2070 at 03:55 in ♈ Aries.

Moon before southern standstill

8 days since the last northern standstill on 12 May 2070 at 15:52 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.793° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 5 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.834° at the point of next southern standstill on 26 May 2070 at 17:02 in ♐ Sagittarius.

New draconic month

At 18:54 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 3 days

In 3 days on 25 May 2070 at 01:37 in ♐ Sagittarius 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