Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 56% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 56% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♓ Pisces.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 5 December 2008 at 21:26 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
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 ♓ Pisces
Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1863"
Lunar disc appears visually 4.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1863" and ∠1948".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2008 after 6 days on 12 December 2008 at 16:37.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 12 December 2008 at 16:37
- Last Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 19 December 2008 at 10:29
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 27 December 2008 at 12:23
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 4 January 2009 at 11:56
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 110 / 1063
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 110 of Meeus index or 1063 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.81 days
Length of current 110 lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 28 minutes. It is 5 minutes shorter than next lunation 111 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 6 hours and 44 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 19 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠161.9°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠161.9°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠186.6°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon before perigee
6 days after point of apogee on 29 November 2008 at 16:55 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 6 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 12 December 2008 at 21:37 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 384 790 km
Moon is 384 790 km (239 097 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 6 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 356 568 km (221 561 mi).
Moon after ascending node
3 days after its ascending node on 3 December 2008 at 04:47 in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 9 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 15 December 2008 at 23:02 in ♌ Leo.
Draconic month
3 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
7 days after previous South standstill on 29 November 2008 at 02:41 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-27.025°. Next 6 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠27.024° in the next northern standstill on 12 December 2008 at 18:39 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 12 December 2008 at 16:37 in ♊ Gemini, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.