Waxing
Gibbous ♌ Leo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 55% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 55% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♋ Cancer.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 9 April 2003 at 23:40 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 ♋ Cancer
Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♌ Leo later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1852"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1852" and ∠1915".
Pink Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2003 after 6 days on 16 April 2003 at 19:36.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Libra ♎ on 16 April 2003 at 19:36
- Last Quarter in Aquarius ♒ on 23 April 2003 at 12:18
- New Moon in Taurus ♉ on 1 May 2003 at 12:15
- First Quarter in Leo ♌ on 9 May 2003 at 11:53
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.
Lunation 40 / 993
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 40 of Meeus index or 993 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.71 days
Length of current 40 lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 56 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2003. It is 51 minutes longer than next lunation 41 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 4 hours and 12 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 2 hours and 51 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠157.7°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠157.7°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠181.7°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon after apogee
6 days after point of apogee on 4 April 2003 at 04:31 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 6 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 17 April 2003 at 04:58 in ♏ Scorpio.
Distance to Moon 387 042 km
Moon is 387 042 km (240 497 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 6 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 357 158 km (221 928 mi).
Moon after ascending node
4 days after its ascending node on 5 April 2003 at 21:41 in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 8 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 19 April 2003 at 00:24 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Draconic month
4 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
Moon after northern standstill
1 day after previous North standstill on 9 April 2003 at 03:25 in ♋ Cancer, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠26.383°. Next 11 days the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-26.442° in the next southern standstill on 21 April 2003 at 17:59 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 16 April 2003 at 19:36 in ♎ Libra, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.