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

Last Quarter in Sagittarius

Last Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 50% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 22 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 2 March 2081 at 11:06 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 ♐ Sagittarius

Moon is passing about ∠13° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.

Worm Moon after 22 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2081 after 22 days on 25 March 2081 at 00:29.

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 ∠1841"

Lunar disc appears visually 5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1841" and ∠1935".

Lunation 1003 / 1956

The Moon is 22 days old and navigating through the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 1003 of Meeus index or 1956 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.79 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 1 minute and it is 2 hours and 2 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 6 hours and 16 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 47 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠177.5°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠177.5° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠202.2°.

Moon before apogee

7 days since point of perigee on 23 February 2081 at 06:18 in ♍ Virgo the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 8 March 2081 at 06:10 in ♒ Aquarius.

Distance to Moon 389 352 km

The Moon is 389 352 km (241 932 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 5 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 362 km (252 502 mi).

Moon after descending node

5 days after descending node on 24 February 2081 at 20:03 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is positioned south of the ecliptic over the following 8 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from South to North in ascending node on 10 March 2081 at 22:30 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon before southern standstill

11 days since the last northern standstill on 19 February 2081 at 03:19 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.630° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠-28.668° at the point of next southern standstill on 3 March 2081 at 19:02 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

18 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♓ Pisces the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 8 days

In 8 days on 10 March 2081 at 15:16 in ♓ Pisces 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