First
Quarter ♍ Virgo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 45% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 45% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♌ Leo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 20 May 2010 at 23:43 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.
Moon in ♌ Leo
Moon is passing about ∠23° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1973"
Lunar disc appears visually 4% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1973" and ∠1896".
Flower Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2010 after 7 days on 27 May 2010 at 23:07.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 27 May 2010 at 23:07
- Last Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 4 June 2010 at 22:13
- New Moon in Gemini ♊ on 12 June 2010 at 11:15
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 19 June 2010 at 04:30
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 128 / 1081
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 128 of Meeus index or 1081 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.42 days
Length of current 128 lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 10 minutes. It is 1 hour and 44 minutes longer than next lunation 129 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 2 hours and 34 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 3 hours and 35 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠282.4°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠282.4°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠311.3°. 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 in perigee
Moon is reaching point of perigee on this date at 08:38, this is 13 days after last apogee on 6 May 2010 at 21:53 in ♒ Aquarius. Lunar orbit is starting to get wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth for 14 days ahead, until it will get to the point of next apogee on 3 June 2010 at 16:50 in ♒ Aquarius.
Distance to Moon 369 729 km
This perigee Moon is 369 729 km (229 739 mi) away from Earth. This is the year's farthest perigee of 2010. It is 7 221 km closer than the mean perigee distance, but it is still 627 km farther than the closest perigee of 21st century.
Moon after descending node
2 days after its descending node on 17 May 2010 at 15:39 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 10 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 30 May 2010 at 18:07 in ♑ Capricorn.
Draconic month
16 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
4 days after previous North standstill on 15 May 2010 at 23:07 in ♊ Gemini, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠25.049°. Next 8 days the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-25.029° in the next southern standstill on 28 May 2010 at 22:09 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
After 7 days on 27 May 2010 at 23:07 in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.