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

Waning Crescent in Virgo

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 1% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 28 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♍ Virgo

Moon is passing about ∠7° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.

5 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 5 days on 5 September 2072 at 16:19.

Harvest Moon after 15 days

Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2072 after 15 days on 27 September 2072 at 08:43.

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 ∠1973"

Lunar disc appears visually 3.4% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1973" and ∠1907".

Lunation 898 / 1851

The Moon is 28 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 898 of Meeus index or 1851 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.32 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 46 minutes and it is 1 hour and 2 minutes shorter 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 4 hours and 58 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 11 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠350.4°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠350.4° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠5.6°.

Moon before perigee

13 days since point of apogee on 29 August 2072 at 00:37 in ♓ Pisces the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 12 September 2072 at 01:13 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 363 335 km

The Moon is 363 335 km (225 766 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next day until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 388 km (222 071 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♍ Virgo at 16:07 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 25 September 2072 at 05:16 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon after northern standstill

4 days since the last northern standstill on 7 September 2072 at 06:46 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.564° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 8 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.581° at the point of next southern standstill on 19 September 2072 at 20:57 in ♐ Sagittarius.

New draconic month

At 16:07 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 12 September 2072 at 09:07 in ♍ Virgo 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