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

First Quarter in Leo

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 48% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 25 April 2072 at 16:35 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 is entering ♌ Leo

Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.

Flower Moon after 6 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2072 after 6 days on 2 May 2072 at 11:34.

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 ∠1965"

Lunar disc appears visually 3% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1965" and ∠1906".

Lunation 894 / 1847

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 894 of Meeus index or 1847 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.52 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 22 minutes and it is 2 hours and 43 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 22 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 47 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠250.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠250.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠285°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 12 April 2072 at 22:33 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 28 April 2072 at 15:34 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 364 747 km

The Moon is 364 747 km (226 643 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 367 523 km (228 368 mi).

Moon before ascending node

10 days after descending node on 15 April 2072 at 04:07 in ♓ Pisces the Moon is positioned south of the ecliptic over the following 3 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from South to North in ascending node on 28 April 2072 at 14:06 in ♍ Virgo.

Moon after northern standstill

2 days since the last northern standstill on 23 April 2072 at 08:04 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.447° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.526° at the point of next southern standstill on 6 May 2072 at 07:01 in ♑ Capricorn.

Draconic month

24 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♍ Virgo the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 2 May 2072 at 11:34 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