First
Quarter ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 48% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 48% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 21 January 2002 at 17:47 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
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 leaving the last ∠1° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♉ Taurus later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1793"
Lunar disc appears visually 8.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1793" and ∠1950".
Wolf Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2002 after 7 days on 28 January 2002 at 22:50.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Leo ♌ on 28 January 2002 at 22:50
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 4 February 2002 at 13:33
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 12 February 2002 at 07:41
- First Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 20 February 2002 at 12:02
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 25 / 978
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 25 of Meeus index or 978 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.76 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 12 minutes. It is 10 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 5 hours and 28 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 35 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠123.9°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠123.9°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠155.3°.
Moon after apogee
3 days after point of apogee on 18 January 2002 at 08:50 in ♓ Pisces. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 8 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 30 January 2002 at 09:02 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 399 744 km
The Moon is 399 744 km (248 389 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 8 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 359 997 km (223 692 mi).
Moon before ascending node
10 days after descending node on 11 January 2002 at 11:56 in ♐ Sagittarius. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 4 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 26 January 2002 at 00:27 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
22 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♊ Gemini, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
8 days since the previous standstill on 12 January 2002 at 15:26 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-24.240°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 5 days to face maximum declination of ∠24.270° at the point of next northern standstill on 27 January 2002 at 01:56 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 28 January 2002 at 22:50 in ♌ Leo 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.
