First
Quarter ♐ Sagittarius
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 50% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 50% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 27 August 2009 at 11:42 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 is entering ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1806"
Lunar disc appears visually 5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1806" and ∠1899".
Harvest Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2009 after 8 days on 4 September 2009 at 16:03.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 4 September 2009 at 16:03
- Last Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 12 September 2009 at 02:16
- New Moon in Virgo ♍ on 18 September 2009 at 18:44
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 26 September 2009 at 04:50
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 119 / 1072
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 119 of Meeus index or 1072 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.36 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 43 minutes. It is 2 hours and 6 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).
Lunation length shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 1 minute shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 8 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠20.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠20.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠39.3°.
Moon before perigee
8 days after point of perigee on 19 August 2009 at 04:53 in ♌ Leo. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 31 August 2009 at 11:04 in ♑ Capricorn.
Distance to Moon 396 873 km
The Moon is 396 873 km (246 605 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 269 km (251 822 mi).
Moon before ascending node
8 days after descending node on 18 August 2009 at 14:06 in ♋ Cancer. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 4 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 1 September 2009 at 03:18 in ♑ Capricorn.
Draconic month
22 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon before southern standstill
11 days since the previous standstill on 15 August 2009 at 21:54 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠26.442°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠-26.391° at the point of next southern standstill on 28 August 2009 at 20:17 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 4 September 2009 at 16:03 in ♓ Pisces 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.
