First
Quarter ♊ Gemini
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 ♊ Gemini.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 12 March 2011 at 23:45 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
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 ♊ Gemini
Moon is passing about ∠16° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1847"
Lunar disc appears visually 4.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1847" and ∠1931".
Worm Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2011 after 7 days on 19 March 2011 at 18:10.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Virgo ♍ on 19 March 2011 at 18:10
- Last Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 26 March 2011 at 12:07
- New Moon in Aries ♈ on 3 April 2011 at 14:32
- First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 11 April 2011 at 12:05
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 138 / 1091
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 138 of Meeus index or 1091 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.74 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 17 hours and 46 minutes. It is 1 hour and 28 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 longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 5 hours and 2 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 1 minute shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠167°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠167°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠190.9°.
Moon after apogee
6 days after point of apogee on 6 March 2011 at 07:50 in ♈ Aries. 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 March 2011 at 19:09 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 388 167 km
The Moon is 388 167 km (241 196 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 7 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 578 km (221 567 mi).
Moon before descending node
13 days after ascending node on 26 February 2011 at 20:19 in ♐ Sagittarius. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following day, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 13 March 2011 at 11:55 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
13 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is navigating from the first to the middle part of the cycle.
Moon at northern standstill
At 17:06 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach North declination of ∠23.825°. Over the next 12 days the lunar orbit is going to extend southward to face maximum declination of ∠-23.716° at the point of next standstill in ♐ Sagittarius on 25 March 2011 at 05:02.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 19 March 2011 at 18:10 in ♍ Virgo 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.
