First
Quarter ♌ Leo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 47% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 47% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♋ Cancer.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 21 April 2010 at 18:20 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
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 ♋ Cancer
Moon is leaving the last ∠2° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♌ Leo later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1963"
Lunar disc appears visually 2.8% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1963" and ∠1909".
Pink Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2010 after 7 days on 28 April 2010 at 12:18.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 28 April 2010 at 12:18
- Last Quarter in Aquarius ♒ on 6 May 2010 at 04:15
- New Moon in Taurus ♉ on 14 May 2010 at 01:04
- First Quarter in Leo ♌ on 20 May 2010 at 23:43
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 127 / 1080
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 127 of Meeus index or 1080 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.52 days
Length of current 127 lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 35 minutes. It is 2 hours and 25 minutes longer than next lunation 128 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 9 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 6 hours longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠247.4°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠247.4°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠282.4°. 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 before perigee
12 days after point of apogee on 9 April 2010 at 02:45 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 3 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 24 April 2010 at 20:59 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 365 059 km
Moon is 365 059 km (226 837 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 3 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 367 142 km (228 131 mi).
Moon after descending node
1 day after its descending node on 20 April 2010 at 13:38 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 12 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 3 May 2010 at 12:35 in ♑ Capricorn.
Draconic month
15 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon after northern standstill
2 days after previous North standstill on 18 April 2010 at 17:15 in ♊ Gemini, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠25.182°. Next 10 days the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-25.109° in the next southern standstill on 1 May 2010 at 14:01 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
After 7 days on 28 April 2010 at 12:18 in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.