Waning Crescent on

Moon phase on 18 December 2003 Thursday is Waning Crescent, 24 days old Moon is in Libra.

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Moon phase for

Lunar calendar 2003 | December 2003

Waning Crescent phase
Waning Crescent phase
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

Waning Crescent 31% illuminated

Waning Crescent is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 31% and getting smaller. The 24 days old Moon is in ♎ Libra.

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Moon phases for next 7 days

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Moon phase and lunation details

1 day after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 1 day on 16 December 2003 at 17:42.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Moon in ♎ Libra

Moon is passing about ∠19° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1943"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1943" and ∠1950".

Wolf Moon after 20 days

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2004 after 20 days on 7 January 2004 at 15:40.

Upcoming main Moon phases

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 48 / 1001

The Moon is 24 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the second to the final part of current synodic month. This is lunation 48 of Meeus index or 1001 from Brown series.

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Synodic month length 29.45 days

The length of the lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 44 minutes. It is 38 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).

Lunation length shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 2 hours shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 9 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit position on

True anomaly ∠359.8°

At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠359.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠15.5°.

Moon before apogee

10 days after point of apogee on 7 December 2003 at 12:05 in ♊ Gemini. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 22 December 2003 at 11:53 in ♐ Sagittarius.

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Distance to Moon 368 979 km

The Moon is 368 979 km (229 273 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 342 km (222 663 mi).

Moon before descending node

11 days after ascending node on 6 December 2003 at 16:00 in ♉ Taurus. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 2 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 20 December 2003 at 16:07 in ♏ Scorpio.

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Draconic month

11 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.

PreviousCurrent draconic monthNext

Moon before southern standstill

7 days since the previous standstill on 10 December 2003 at 15:56 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠27.057°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 5 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.044° at the point of next southern standstill on 23 December 2003 at 20:12 in ♑ Capricorn.

Previous standstillNext standstill

Syzygy in 4 days

In 4 days on 23 December 2003 at 09:43 in ♑ Capricorn 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.

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