First
Quarter ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 50% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 50% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 12 January 2011 at 11:31 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 ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1781"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1781" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2011 after 7 days on 19 January 2011 at 21:21.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 19 January 2011 at 21:21
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 26 January 2011 at 12:57
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 3 February 2011 at 02:31
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 11 February 2011 at 07:18
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 136 / 1089
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 136 of Meeus index or 1089 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.73 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes. It is 47 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 44 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 19 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠103.5°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠103.5°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠139.2°.
Moon after apogee
2 days after point of apogee on 10 January 2011 at 05:38 in ♓ Pisces. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 22 January 2011 at 00:10 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 402 427 km
The Moon is 402 427 km (250 057 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 9 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 362 793 km (225 429 mi).
Moon before descending node
8 days after ascending node on 3 January 2011 at 12:48 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 18 January 2011 at 00:06 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
10 days since the previous standstill on 2 January 2011 at 10:06 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-24.242°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠24.221° at the point of next northern standstill on 16 January 2011 at 22:51 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 19 January 2011 at 21:21 in ♋ Cancer 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.
