Waxing
Gibbous ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 69% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 69% and growing larger. The 9 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
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
2 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 2 days on 30 December 2003 at 10:03.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.
Moon is entering ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1783"
Lunar disc appears visually 9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1783" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2004 after 6 days on 7 January 2004 at 15:40.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 7 January 2004 at 15:40
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 15 January 2004 at 04:46
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 21 January 2004 at 21:05
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 29 January 2004 at 06:03
Moderate tide
There is medium ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at very acute angle, so their combined tidal force is moderate.
Lunation 49 / 1002
The Moon is 9 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the first to the middle part of current synodic month. This is lunation 49 of Meeus index or 1002 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.47 days
Length of current 49 lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 22 minutes. It is 51 minutes shorter than next lunation 50 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 1 hour and 22 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 4 hours and 47 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠15.5°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠15.5°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠33.9°. 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°).
Moon before apogee
10 days after point of perigee on 22 December 2003 at 11:53 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 2 days, until it get to the point of next apogee on 3 January 2004 at 20:19 in ♉ Taurus.
Distance to Moon 401 923 km
Moon is 401 923 km (249 743 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next 2 days until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 405 707 km (252 095 mi).
Moon before ascending node
11 days after its descending node on 20 December 2003 at 16:07 in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next day, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 2 January 2004 at 20:11 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
25 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
8 days after previous South standstill on 23 December 2003 at 20:12 in ♑ Capricorn, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-27.044°. Next 5 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠27.031° in the next northern standstill on 6 January 2004 at 21:36 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 7 January 2004 at 15:40 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.