Waxing
Gibbous ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 81% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 81% and growing larger. The 10 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Moon phase and lunation details
3 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 3 days on 4 January 2009 at 11:56.
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 in ♉ Taurus
Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♊ Gemini later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1956"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.2% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1956" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 3 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2009 after 3 days on 11 January 2009 at 03:27.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 11 January 2009 at 03:27
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 18 January 2009 at 02:46
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 26 January 2009 at 07:55
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 2 February 2009 at 23:13
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 111 / 1064
The Moon is 10 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the first to the middle part of current synodic month. This is lunation 111 of Meeus index or 1064 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.81 days
Length of current 111 lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 33 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2009. It is 1 hour and 53 minutes longer than next lunation 112 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 6 hours and 49 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 14 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠186.6°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠186.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠213.2°. 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
11 days after point of apogee on 26 December 2008 at 17:50 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 2 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 10 January 2009 at 10:52 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 366 427 km
Moon is 366 427 km (227 687 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 2 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 357 501 km (222 141 mi).
Moon before descending node
8 days after its ascending node on 30 December 2008 at 07:40 in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 4 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 12 January 2009 at 08:34 in ♌ Leo.
Draconic month
8 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
12 days after previous South standstill on 26 December 2008 at 08:03 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-27.026°. Next day the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠27.060° in the next northern standstill on 9 January 2009 at 05:38 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 3 days
After 3 days on 11 January 2009 at 03:27 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.