Last
Quarter* ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Last Quarter 55% illuminated
Last Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 55% and getting smaller. The 21 days old Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 20 August 2003 at 00:48 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.
Moon in ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠20° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"
Lunar disc appears visually 7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1896".
Harvest Moon after 22 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2003 after 22 days on 10 September 2003 at 16:36.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Last Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 20 August 2003 at 00:48
- New Moon in Leo ♌ on 27 August 2003 at 17:26
- First Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 3 September 2003 at 12:34
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 10 September 2003 at 16:36
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 44 / 997
The Moon is 21 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the last part of current synodic month. This is lunation 44 of Meeus index or 997 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.44 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 34 minutes. It is 51 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 2 hours and 10 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 59 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠268.5°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠268.5°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠301°.
Moon at apogee
Moon is at apogee at 14:22. It is 13 days after previous perigee on 6 August 2003 at 14:06 in ♏ Scorpio. Lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the next 12 days, until point of next perigee on 31 August 2003 at 18:47 in ♎ Libra.
Distance to Moon 404 102 km
This apogee Moon is 404 102 km (251 097 mi) away from Earth. This is the year's closest apogee of 2003. It is 1 306 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 51 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.
Moon in ascending node
Moon is in ascending node in ♉ Taurus at 21:08 crossing the ecliptic from South to North to meet descending node 13 days later on 2 September 2003 at 07:23 in ♏ Scorpio.
New draconic month
At 21:08 the Moon completes the previous draconic month and enters the new one.
Moon before northern standstill
10 days since the previous standstill on 9 August 2003 at 06:19 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.553°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 3 days to face maximum declination of ∠26.649° at the point of next northern standstill on 23 August 2003 at 11:41 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 27 August 2003 at 17:26 in ♌ Leo the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy alignment.
