Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 58% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 58% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 18 December 2004 at 16:40 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠8° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1884"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1884" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2004 after 7 days on 26 December 2004 at 15:06.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 26 December 2004 at 15:06
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 3 January 2005 at 17:46
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 10 January 2005 at 12:03
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 17 January 2005 at 06:58
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 61 / 1014
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 61 of Meeus index or 1014 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.44 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 34 minutes. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2004. It is 9 minutes longer 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 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 ∠345.8°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠345.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠1.4°.
Moon after perigee
6 days after point of perigee on 12 December 2004 at 21:30 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 8 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 27 December 2004 at 19:15 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 380 443 km
The Moon is 380 443 km (236 396 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 8 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 488 km (252 580 mi).
Moon before ascending node
10 days after descending node on 8 December 2004 at 16:57 in ♎ Libra. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following day, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 21 December 2004 at 06:51 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
25 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon after southern standstill
6 days since the previous standstill on 13 December 2004 at 00:27 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-27.935°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠27.905° at the point of next northern standstill on 26 December 2004 at 14:10 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 26 December 2004 at 15:06 in ♊ Gemini the Moon is going to be in a Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy alignment.
