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

First Quarter in Taurus

First Quarter on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 58% and growing larger. The lunar cycle is 8 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 10 January 2079 at 18:29 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon is entering ♉ Taurus

Moon is passing first ∠1° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.

Wolf Moon after 5 days

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2079 after 5 days on 17 January 2079 at 11:06.

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 0.5% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1961" and ∠1951".

Lunation 977 / 1930

The Moon is 8 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 977 of Meeus index or 1930 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.7 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 45 minutes and it is 2 hours and 32 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 4 hours and 1 minute longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 2 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠225.6°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠225.6° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠261.8°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 30 December 2078 at 02:17 in ♏ Scorpio 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 15 January 2079 at 03:12 in ♊ Gemini.

Distance to Moon 365 489 km

The Moon is 365 489 km (227 104 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 363 679 km (225 980 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♉ Taurus at 23:02 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 24 January 2079 at 23:31 in ♎ Libra.

Moon before northern standstill

8 days since the last southern standstill on 2 January 2079 at 17:40 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-27.521° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠27.561° at the point of next northern standstill on 16 January 2079 at 00:05 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 23:02 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 5 days

In 5 days on 17 January 2079 at 11:06 in ♋ Cancer 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