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

Last Quarter in Gemini

Last Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 51% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 22 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 27 August 2081 at 14:08 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 is entering ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

Harvest Moon after 21 days

Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2081 after 21 days on 18 September 2081 at 03:45.

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 ∠1849"

Lunar disc appears visually 2.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1849" and ∠1900".

Lunation 1009 / 1962

The Moon is 22 days old and navigating through the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 1009 of Meeus index or 1962 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.32 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 38 minutes and it is 44 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2081. 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 5 hours and 6 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 3 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠341.4°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠341.4° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠357.1°.

Moon after apogee

6 days since point of apogee on 21 August 2081 at 05:57 in ♓ Pisces the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 7 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 3 September 2081 at 13:09 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 387 569 km

The Moon is 387 569 km (240 824 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 7 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 254 km (221 987 mi).

Moon after ascending node

6 days after ascending node on 21 August 2081 at 00:00 in ♓ Pisces the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 7 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 3 September 2081 at 14:55 in ♍ Virgo.

Moon before northern standstill

12 days since the last southern standstill on 14 August 2081 at 14:13 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-28.500° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠28.537° at the point of next northern standstill on 29 August 2081 at 07:15 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 3 September 2081 at 09:01 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