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

Waxing Gibbous in Virgo

Waxing Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 97% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 13 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 ♍ Virgo

Moon is passing about ∠21° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.

5 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 5 days on 27 March 2072 at 09:43.

Pink Moon after 1 day

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2072 after 1 day on 3 April 2072 at 01:25.

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 ∠1961"

Lunar disc appears visually 2.2% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1961" and ∠1919".

Lunation 893 / 1846

The Moon is 13 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 893 of Meeus index or 1846 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.65 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 15 hours and 35 minutes and it is 3 hours and 13 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 2 hours and 51 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 12 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠217.4°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠217.4° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠250.1°.

Moon at perigee

Moon is at perigee at 01:31 about 15 days since last apogee on 16 March 2072 at 05:25 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is going to widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth over the upcoming 11 days until point of next apogee on 12 April 2072 at 22:33 in ♒ Aquarius.

Distance to Moon 362 291 km

This perigee Moon is 362 291 km (225 117 mi) away from Earth. It is 217 km closer than the mean perigee distance, but it is still 8 065 km further than the closest perigee of 21st century.

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♍ Virgo at 07:46 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 15 April 2072 at 04:07 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon after northern standstill

5 days since the last northern standstill on 27 March 2072 at 02:22 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.306° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.355° at the point of next southern standstill on 8 April 2072 at 21:40 in ♐ Sagittarius.

New draconic month

At 07:46 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 3 April 2072 at 01:25 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