Waning
Crescent ♏ Scorpio
Moon phase for
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.
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
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
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 23 December 2003 at 09:43
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 30 December 2003 at 10:03
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 7 January 2004 at 15:40
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 15 January 2004 at 04:46
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
