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
The length of the 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 the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 6 hours and 56 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 7 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠164.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠164.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠188.9°.
Moon after apogee
6 days after point of apogee on 17 January 2010 at 01:40 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 6 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 30 January 2010 at 09:03 in ♌ Leo.
Distance to Moon 386 518 km
The Moon is 386 518 km (240 171 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 593 km (221 577 mi).
Moon before descending node
8 days after ascending node on 14 January 2010 at 23:18 in ♑ Capricorn. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 5 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 29 January 2010 at 00:02 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
8 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
11 days since the previous standstill on 12 January 2010 at 08:33 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-25.796°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 3 days to face maximum declination of ∠25.783° at the point of next northern standstill on 26 January 2010 at 21:04 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 30 January 2010 at 06:18 in ♌ Leo 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.
