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

Waning Gibbous in Gemini

Waning Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 68% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 20 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the evening and sets in the morning. It is visible to the southwest and it is high in the sky after midnight.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠24° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

5 days after Full Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the Full Moon before 5 days on 2 October 2001 at 13:49.

Hunter Moon before 5 days

Next Full Moon is the Beaver Moon of November 2001 after 23 days on 1 November 2001 at 05:41.

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 ∠1904"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1904" and ∠1921".

Lunation 21 / 974

The Moon is 20 days old and navigating from the middle to the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 21 of Meeus index or 974 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.37 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 56 minutes and it is 2 hours and 21 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 3 hours and 48 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 21 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠13.2°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠13.2° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠30.5°.

Moon before perigee

9 days since point of apogee on 29 September 2001 at 05:33 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 6 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 14 October 2001 at 23:02 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 376 493 km

The Moon is 376 493 km (233 942 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 361 864 km (224 852 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♊ Gemini at 22:32 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 21 October 2001 at 13:22 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon before northern standstill

13 days since the last southern standstill on 25 September 2001 at 05:14 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-23.780° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠23.937° at the point of next northern standstill on 9 October 2001 at 18:46 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 22:32 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 8 days

In 8 days on 16 October 2001 at 19:23 in ♎ Libra 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