Waxing
Gibbous ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 86% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 86% and growing larger. The 11 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Moon phase and lunation details
3 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 3 days on 24 December 2009 at 17:36.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.
Moon in ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1894"
Lunar disc appears visually 3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1894" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 3 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2009 after 3 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 11 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the first to the middle part of current synodic month. This is lunation 123 of Meeus index or 1076 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.8 days
Length of current 123 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 next lunation 124 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 6 hours and 25 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 38 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠135.6°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠135.6°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠164.3°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
Moon before perigee
7 days after point of apogee on 20 December 2009 at 14:54 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 4 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 1 January 2010 at 20:36 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 378 526 km
Moon is 378 526 km (235 205 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 4 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 358 684 km (222 876 mi).
Moon before descending node
9 days after its ascending node on 18 December 2009 at 16:41 in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 4 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 1 January 2010 at 12:30 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
9 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
12 days after previous South standstill on 16 December 2009 at 02:38 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-25.769°. Next day the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠25.787° in the next northern standstill on 30 December 2009 at 10:09 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 3 days
After 3 days on 31 December 2009 at 19:13 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.