First
Quarter ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 52% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 52% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 11 February 2011 at 07:18 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
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 ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠25° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1817"
Lunar disc appears visually 6.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1817" and ∠1944".
Snow Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2011 after 6 days on 18 February 2011 at 08:36.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Leo ♌ on 18 February 2011 at 08:36
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 24 February 2011 at 23:26
- New Moon in Pisces ♓ on 4 March 2011 at 20:46
- First Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 12 March 2011 at 23:45
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 137 / 1090
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 137 of Meeus index or 1090 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.76 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 15 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2011. It is 29 minutes longer 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 5 hours and 31 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 32 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠139.2°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠139.2°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠167°.
Moon after apogee
4 days after point of apogee on 6 February 2011 at 23:13 in ♓ Pisces. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 7 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 19 February 2011 at 07:27 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 394 462 km
The Moon is 394 462 km (245 107 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 7 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 247 km (222 604 mi).
Moon before descending node
11 days after ascending node on 30 January 2011 at 18:29 in ♐ Sagittarius. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 2 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 14 February 2011 at 08:14 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
11 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
12 days since the previous standstill on 29 January 2011 at 16:26 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-24.180°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠24.080° at the point of next northern standstill on 13 February 2011 at 09:00 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 18 February 2011 at 08:36 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.
