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
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 35 minutes. It is 2 hours and 25 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 9 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠247.4°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠247.4°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠282.4°.
Moon before apogee
12 days after point of apogee on 9 April 2010 at 02:45 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 24 April 2010 at 20:59 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 365 059 km
The Moon is 365 059 km (226 837 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 367 142 km (228 131 mi).
Moon after descending node
1 day after descending node on 20 April 2010 at 13:38 in ♋ Cancer. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 12 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 3 May 2010 at 12:35 in ♑ Capricorn.
Draconic month
15 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♑ Capricorn, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
2 days since the previous standstill on 18 April 2010 at 17:15 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠25.182°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-25.109° at the point of next southern standstill on 1 May 2010 at 14:01 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 28 April 2010 at 12:18 in ♏ Scorpio 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.
