Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 56% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 56% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 22 December 2001 at 20:56 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠9° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1777"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1777" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2001 after 6 days on 30 December 2001 at 10:41.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 30 December 2001 at 10:41
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 6 January 2002 at 03:55
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 13 January 2002 at 13:29
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 21 January 2002 at 17:47
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.
Lunation 24 / 977
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 24 of Meeus index or 977 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.7 days
Length of current 24 lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 41 minutes. It is 1 hour and 31 minutes shorter than next lunation 25 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 3 hours and 57 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 3 hours and 6 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠86.2°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠86.2°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠123.9°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
Moon after apogee
1 day after point of apogee on 21 December 2001 at 13:02 in ♓ Pisces. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 9 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 2 January 2002 at 07:13 in ♌ Leo.
Distance to Moon 403 331 km
Moon is 403 331 km (250 618 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 9 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 365 412 km (227 056 mi).
Moon before ascending node
8 days after its descending node on 15 December 2001 at 04:32 in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 6 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 29 December 2001 at 14:51 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
21 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♊ Gemini, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
7 days after previous South standstill on 16 December 2001 at 07:51 in ♑ Capricorn, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-24.250°. Next 7 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠24.244° in the next northern standstill on 30 December 2001 at 15:40 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 30 December 2001 at 10:41 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.