Waning
Crescent ♏ Scorpio
Moon phase on 18 December 2003 Thursday is Waning Crescent, 24 days old Moon is in Libra.
Share this page: twitter facebook linkedinWaning 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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Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 1 day on 16 December 2003 at 17:42.
Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.
Moon is passing about ∠19° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.
Lunar disc appears visually 0.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1943" and ∠1950".
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2004 after 20 days on 7 January 2004 at 15:40.
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.
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.
Length of current 48 lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 44 minutes. It is 38 minutes shorter than next lunation 49 length.
Length of current synodic month is 2 hours shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 4 hours and 9 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠359.8°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠15.5°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
10 days after point of apogee on 7 December 2003 at 12:05 in ♊ Gemini. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 3 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 22 December 2003 at 11:53 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Moon is 368 979 km (229 273 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 3 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 358 342 km (222 663 mi).
11 days after its ascending node on 6 December 2003 at 16:00 in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 2 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 20 December 2003 at 16:07 in ♏ Scorpio.
11 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
7 days after previous North standstill on 10 December 2003 at 15:56 in ♋ Cancer, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠27.057°. Next 5 days the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-27.044° in the next southern standstill on 23 December 2003 at 20:12 in ♑ Capricorn.
After 4 days on 23 December 2003 at 09:43 in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon will be in New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy.