Waning
Crescent ♏ Scorpio
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Last Quarter 46% illuminated
Last Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 46% and getting smaller. The 22 days old Moon is in ♏ Scorpio.
* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 18 January 2009 at 02:46 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 midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.
Moon is entering ♏ Scorpio
Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♏ Scorpio tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1817"
Lunar disc appears visually 7.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1817" and ∠1950".
Snow Moon after 22 days
Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2009 after 22 days on 9 February 2009 at 14:49.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 26 January 2009 at 07:55
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 2 February 2009 at 23:13
- Full Moon in Leo ♌ on 9 February 2009 at 14:49
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 16 February 2009 at 21:37
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 111 / 1064
The Moon is 22 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the last 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 apogee
8 days after point of perigee on 10 January 2009 at 10:52 in ♋ Cancer. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 4 days, until it get to the point of next apogee on 23 January 2009 at 00:11 in ♑ Capricorn.
Distance to Moon 394 524 km
Moon is 394 524 km (245 146 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next 4 days until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 406 116 km (252 349 mi).
Moon after descending node
6 days after its descending node on 12 January 2009 at 08:34 in ♌ Leo, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 8 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 26 January 2009 at 13:27 in ♒ Aquarius.
Draconic month
19 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon before southern standstill
9 days after previous North standstill on 9 January 2009 at 05:38 in ♊ Gemini, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠27.060°. Next 4 days the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-27.081° in the next southern standstill on 22 January 2009 at 14:02 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
After 7 days on 26 January 2009 at 07:55 in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon will be in New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy.