First
Quarter ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 51% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 51% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 23 January 2010 at 10:53 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
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 is entering ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1854"
Lunar disc appears visually 5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1854" and ∠1949".
Wolf Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2010 after 6 days on 30 January 2010 at 06:18.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Leo ♌ on 30 January 2010 at 06:18
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 5 February 2010 at 23:49
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 14 February 2010 at 02:51
- First Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 22 February 2010 at 00:42
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 124 / 1077
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 124 of Meeus index or 1077 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.82 days
Length of current 124 lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 40 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2010. It is 1 hour and 30 minutes longer than next lunation 125 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 6 hours and 56 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 7 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠164.3°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠164.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠188.9°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon after apogee
6 days after point of apogee on 17 January 2010 at 01:40 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 6 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 30 January 2010 at 09:03 in ♌ Leo.
Distance to Moon 386 518 km
Moon is 386 518 km (240 171 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 6 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 356 593 km (221 577 mi).
Moon before descending node
8 days after its ascending node on 14 January 2010 at 23:18 in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 5 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 29 January 2010 at 00:02 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
8 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
11 days after previous South standstill on 12 January 2010 at 08:33 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-25.796°. Next 3 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠25.783° in the next northern standstill on 26 January 2010 at 21:04 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 30 January 2010 at 06:18 in ♌ Leo, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.