Waning Gibbous on

Moon phase on 18 December 2008 Thursday is Waning Gibbous, 21 days old Moon is in Virgo.

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Moon phase for

Lunar calendar 2008 | December 2008

Waning Gibbous phase
Waning Gibbous phase
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

Waning Gibbous 60% illuminated

Waning Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 60% and getting smaller. The 21 days old Moon is in ♍ Virgo.

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Moon phases for next 7 days

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Moon phase and lunation details

5 days after Full Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the Full Moon before 5 days on 12 December 2008 at 16:37.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the evening and sets in the morning. It is visible to the southwest and it is high in the sky after midnight.

Moon in ♍ Virgo

Moon is passing about ∠16° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1893"

Lunar disc appears visually 3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1893" and ∠1950".

Cold Moon before 5 days

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2009 after 23 days on 11 January 2009 at 03:27.

Upcoming main Moon phases

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 21 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the middle to the last part of current synodic month. This is lunation 110 of Meeus index or 1063 from Brown series.

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Synodic month length 29.81 days

The length of the lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 28 minutes. It is 5 minutes shorter 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 6 hours and 44 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 19 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit position on

True anomaly ∠161.9°

At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠161.9°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠186.6°.

Moon after perigee

5 days after point of perigee on 12 December 2008 at 21:37 in ♊ Gemini. 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 26 December 2008 at 17:50 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Previous perigeeNext apogee

Distance to Moon 378 585 km

The Moon is 378 585 km (235 242 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 8 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 602 km (252 651 mi).

Moon after descending node

2 days after descending node on 15 December 2008 at 23:02 in ♌ Leo. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 11 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 30 December 2008 at 07:40 in ♒ Aquarius.

Previous nodeNext node

Draconic month

15 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.

PreviousCurrent draconic monthNext

Moon after northern standstill

5 days since the previous standstill on 12 December 2008 at 18:39 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠27.024°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.026° at the point of next southern standstill on 26 December 2008 at 08:03 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Previous standstillNext standstill

Syzygy in 9 days

In 9 days on 27 December 2008 at 12:23 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.

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