Waxing Gibbous Moon
Waxing Gibbous MoonImage credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.(large image)

Waxing Gibbous in Leo

Waxing Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 91% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 12 days young.

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.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♌ Leo

Moon is passing about ∠14° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.

4 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 4 days on 4 March 2009 at 07:46.

Worm Moon after 2 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2009 after 2 days on 11 March 2009 at 02:38.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1953"

Lunar disc appears visually 1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1953" and ∠1933".

Lunation 113 / 1066

The Moon is 12 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 113 of Meeus index or 1066 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.6 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 31 minutes and it is 3 hours and 14 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decrease with the lunar orbit 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 1 hour and 47 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 16 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠246.2°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠246.2° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠282.4°.

Moon after perigee

1 day since point of perigee on 7 March 2009 at 15:06 in ♋ Cancer the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 11 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 19 March 2009 at 13:16 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 367 079 km

The Moon is 367 079 km (228 092 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 11 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 302 km (251 222 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♌ Leo at 04:05 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 22 March 2009 at 02:12 in ♒ Aquarius.

Moon after northern standstill

3 days since the last northern standstill on 4 March 2009 at 21:34 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠26.987° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 9 days to face maximum declination of ∠-26.896° at the point of next southern standstill on 18 March 2009 at 05:07 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

13 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 2 days

In 2 days on 11 March 2009 at 02:38 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is going to be in a Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy alignment.

Lunar calendar

Sources and credits

Parts of this Lunar Calendar are based on Planetary Ephemeris Data Courtesy of Fred Espenak, www.Astropixels.com

Moon phase image credit to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, svs.gsfc.nasa.gov