Waning
Crescent ♎ Libra
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Last Quarter 45% illuminated
Last Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 45% and getting smaller. The 22 days old Moon is in ♍ Virgo.
* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 9 December 2009 at 00:13 UTC.
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
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.
Moon in ♍ Virgo
Moon is passing about ∠24° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1942"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1942" and ∠1948".
Cold Moon after 22 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2009 after 22 days on 31 December 2009 at 19:13.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- New Moon in Sagittarius ♐ on 16 December 2009 at 12:02
- First Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 24 December 2009 at 17:36
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 31 December 2009 at 19:13
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 7 January 2010 at 10:40
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 122 / 1075
The Moon is 22 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the last part of current synodic month. This is lunation 122 of Meeus index or 1075 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.7 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 48 minutes. It is 2 hours and 21 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 longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 4 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 59 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠99.9°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠99.9°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠135.6°.
Moon after perigee
4 days after point of perigee on 4 December 2009 at 14:12 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 20 December 2009 at 14:54 in ♒ Aquarius.
Distance to Moon 369 190 km
The Moon is 369 190 km (229 404 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 11 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 731 km (252 110 mi).
Moon after descending node
4 days after descending node on 5 December 2009 at 03:18 in ♋ Cancer. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 9 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 18 December 2009 at 16:41 in ♑ Capricorn.
Draconic month
18 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 after northern standstill
6 days since the previous standstill on 2 December 2009 at 23:37 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠25.772°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠-25.769° at the point of next southern standstill on 16 December 2009 at 02:38 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 16 December 2009 at 12:02 in ♐ Sagittarius 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.
