Waxing
Gibbous ♋ Cancer
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 55% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 55% and growing larger. The 8 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
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
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 leaving the last ∠1° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♋ Cancer later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1870"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1870" and ∠1930".
Worm Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2011 after 6 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 8 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 before apogee
7 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 6 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 19 March 2011 at 19:09 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 383 334 km
The Moon is 383 334 km (238 193 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 578 km (221 567 mi).
Moon in descending node
Moon is in descending node in ♊ Gemini at 11:55 crossing the ecliptic from North to South to meet ascending node 12 days later on 25 March 2011 at 21:09 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Draconic month
14 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
1 day since the previous standstill on 12 March 2011 at 17:06 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠23.825°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠-23.716° at the point of next southern standstill on 25 March 2011 at 05:02 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 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.
