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

Waxing Gibbous in Gemini

Waxing Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 98% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 13 days young.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠11° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

6 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 6 days on 11 December 2002 at 15:49.

Cold Moon after 1 day

Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2002 after 1 day on 19 December 2002 at 19:10.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1801"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1801" and ∠1950".

Lunation 36 / 989

The Moon is 13 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 36 of Meeus index or 989 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.53 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 48 minutes and it is 1 hour and 38 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 4 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 59 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠32.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠32.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠56.5°.

Moon after apogee

4 days since point of apogee on 14 December 2002 at 03:57 in ♈ Aries the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 11 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 30 December 2002 at 01:06 in ♏ Scorpio.

Distance to Moon 397 959 km

The Moon is 397 959 km (247 280 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 11 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 367 904 km (228 605 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♊ Gemini at 06:47 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 12 days until Moon's next descending node later on 31 December 2002 at 11:16 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon before northern standstill

12 days since the last southern standstill on 6 December 2002 at 07:00 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-25.808° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠25.790° at the point of next northern standstill on 20 December 2002 at 18:29 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 06:47 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 1 day

In 1 day on 19 December 2002 at 19:10 in ♊ Gemini 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.

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