Waxing
Gibbous ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 59% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 59% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 10 January 2003 at 13:15 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
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 is entering ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing first ∠1° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.8% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2003 after 6 days on 18 January 2003 at 10:48.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 18 January 2003 at 10:48
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 25 January 2003 at 08:33
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 1 February 2003 at 10:48
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 9 February 2003 at 11:11
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 37 / 990
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 37 of Meeus index or 990 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.6 days
Length of current 37 lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 26 minutes. It is 1 hour and 21 minutes shorter than next lunation 38 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 1 hour and 41 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 5 hours and 21 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠56.5°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠56.5°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠90.6°. 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 in apogee
Moon is reaching point of apogee on this date at 00:43, this is 11 days after last perigee on 30 December 2002 at 01:06 in ♏ Scorpio. Lunar orbit is starting to get closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth for 12 days ahead, until it will get to the point of next perigee on 23 January 2003 at 22:43 in ♎ Libra.
Distance to Moon 404 343 km
This apogee Moon is 404 343 km (251 247 mi) away from Earth. It is 1 065 km farther than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 2 366 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.
Moon before ascending node
11 days after its descending node on 31 December 2002 at 11:16 in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 3 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 14 January 2003 at 13:38 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
24 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
8 days after previous South standstill on 2 January 2003 at 16:56 in ♑ Capricorn, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-25.783°. Next 5 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠25.794° in the next northern standstill on 17 January 2003 at 02:11 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 18 January 2003 at 10:48 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.