Last
Quarter ♎ Libra
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Last Quarter 53% illuminated
Last Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 53% and getting smaller. The 21 days old Moon is in ♍ Virgo.
* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 23 December 2005 at 19:36 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.
Moon in ♍ Virgo
Moon is leaving the last ∠2° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♎ Libra later.
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 21 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2006 after 21 days on 14 January 2006 at 09:48.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 31 December 2005 at 03:12
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 6 January 2006 at 18:57
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 14 January 2006 at 09:48
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 22 January 2006 at 15:14
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 73 / 1026
The Moon is 21 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the last part of current synodic month. This is lunation 73 of Meeus index or 1026 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.51 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 11 minutes. It is 1 hour and 8 minutes longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Lunation length shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 33 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 36 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠306.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠306.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠329.9°.
Moon after apogee
2 days after point of apogee on 21 December 2005 at 02:49 in ♍ Virgo. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 1 January 2006 at 22:50 in ♑ Capricorn.
Distance to Moon 402 044 km
The Moon is 402 044 km (249 819 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 9 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 361 750 km (224 781 mi).
Moon before descending node
13 days after ascending node on 10 December 2005 at 04:50 in ♈ Aries. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following day, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 24 December 2005 at 10:43 in ♎ Libra.
Draconic month
13 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♈ Aries, 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 16 December 2005 at 07:14 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.378°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠-28.387° at the point of next southern standstill on 30 December 2005 at 13:57 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 31 December 2005 at 03:12 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.
