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

Last Quarter in Aquarius

Last Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 47% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 22 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 10 May 2072 at 03:17 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♒ Aquarius

Moon is passing about ∠25° of ♒ Aquarius tropical zodiac sector.

Flower Moon after 21 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2072 after 21 days on 31 May 2072 at 22:18.

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 ∠1768"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1900".

Lunation 894 / 1847

The Moon is 22 days old and navigating through the last 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 at apogee

Moon is at apogee at 17:48 about 12 days since last perigee on 28 April 2072 at 15:34 in ♍ Virgo the lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the upcoming 13 days until point of next perigee on 23 May 2072 at 23:46 in ♌ Leo.

Distance to Moon 404 155 km

This apogee Moon is 404 155 km (251 130 mi) away from Earth. This is the year's closest apogee of 2072. It is 1 253 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 104 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.

Moon before descending node

11 days after ascending node on 28 April 2072 at 14:06 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following day until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 12 May 2072 at 08:23 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon after southern standstill

4 days since the last southern standstill on 6 May 2072 at 07:01 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-18.526° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠18.609° at the point of next northern standstill on 20 May 2072 at 14:55 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 18 May 2072 at 00:18 in ♊ Gemini the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth 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