Waxing
Crescent ♒ Aquarius
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Crescent 4% illuminated
Waxing Crescent is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 4% and growing larger. The 2 days young Moon is in ♑ Capricorn.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Moon phase and lunation details
1 day after New Moon
Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 1 day on 16 December 2009 at 12:02.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.
Moon in ♑ Capricorn
Moon is passing about ∠19° of ♑ Capricorn tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1774"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1774" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 13 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2009 after 13 days on 31 December 2009 at 19:13.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- 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
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 15 January 2010 at 07:11
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 123 / 1076
The Moon is 2 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the beginning to the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 123 of Meeus index or 1076 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.8 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 9 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2009. It is 31 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 6 hours and 25 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 38 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠135.6°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠135.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠164.3°.
Moon before perigee
13 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 2 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 20 December 2009 at 14:54 in ♒ Aquarius.
Distance to Moon 404 074 km
The Moon is 404 074 km (251 080 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 2 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 731 km (252 110 mi).
Moon in ascending node
Moon is in ascending node in ♑ Capricorn at 16:41 crossing the ecliptic from South to North to meet descending node 14 days later on 1 January 2010 at 12:30 in ♋ Cancer.
New draconic month
At 16:41 the Moon completes the previous draconic month and enters the new one.
Moon after southern standstill
2 days since the previous standstill on 16 December 2009 at 02:38 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-25.769°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠25.787° at the point of next northern standstill on 30 December 2009 at 10:09 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 13 days
In 13 days on 31 December 2009 at 19:13 in ♋ Cancer 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.
