Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 58% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 58% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 24 December 2009 at 17:36 UTC.
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
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠13° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1824"
Lunar disc appears visually 6.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1824" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2009 after 6 days on 31 December 2009 at 19:13.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- 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
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 23 January 2010 at 10:53
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 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through 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 after apogee
4 days after point of apogee on 20 December 2009 at 14:54 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 7 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 1 January 2010 at 20:36 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 392 925 km
The Moon is 392 925 km (244 152 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 7 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 684 km (222 876 mi).
Moon after ascending node
6 days after ascending node on 18 December 2009 at 16:41 in ♑ Capricorn. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 7 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 1 January 2010 at 12:30 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
6 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
9 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 4 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 6 days
In 6 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.
