First
Quarter ♍ Virgo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 50% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 50% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♌ Leo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 9 May 2003 at 11:53 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
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 ♌ Leo
Moon is passing about ∠18° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1886"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.8% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1886" and ∠1900".
Flower Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2003 after 6 days on 16 May 2003 at 03:36.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 16 May 2003 at 03:36
- Last Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 23 May 2003 at 00:31
- New Moon in Gemini ♊ on 31 May 2003 at 04:20
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 7 June 2003 at 20:28
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 41 / 994
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 41 of Meeus index or 994 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.67 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 5 minutes. It is 1 hour and 46 minutes longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 3 hours and 21 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 42 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠181.7°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠181.7°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠205.5°.
Moon before apogee
8 days after point of apogee on 1 May 2003 at 07:39 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 6 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 15 May 2003 at 15:39 in ♏ Scorpio.
Distance to Moon 380 087 km
The Moon is 380 087 km (236 175 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 449 km (222 109 mi).
Moon after ascending node
6 days after ascending node on 3 May 2003 at 02:17 in ♉ Taurus. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 6 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 16 May 2003 at 10:51 in ♏ Scorpio.
Draconic month
6 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
3 days since the previous standstill on 6 May 2003 at 09:48 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠26.496°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 9 days to face maximum declination of ∠-26.503° at the point of next southern standstill on 19 May 2003 at 03:13 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 16 May 2003 at 03:36 in ♏ Scorpio 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.
