Waxing
Crescent ♒ Aquarius
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Crescent 14% illuminated
Waxing Crescent is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 14% and growing larger. The 4 days young Moon is in ♒ Aquarius.
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
3 days after New Moon
Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 3 days 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 ♒ Aquarius
Moon is passing about ∠12° of ♒ Aquarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.8% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 11 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2009 after 11 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
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 123 / 1076
The Moon is 4 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 at apogee
Moon is at apogee at 14:54. It is 16 days after previous perigee on 4 December 2009 at 14:12 in ♋ Cancer. Lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the next 12 days, until point of next perigee on 1 January 2010 at 20:36 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 405 731 km
This apogee Moon is 405 731 km (252 110 mi) away from Earth. It is 323 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 978 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.
Moon after ascending node
1 day after ascending node on 18 December 2009 at 16:41 in ♑ Capricorn. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 12 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 1 January 2010 at 12:30 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
1 day since the beginning of current draconic month in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon after southern standstill
4 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 9 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 11 days
In 11 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.
