Waxing
Gibbous ♐ Sagittarius
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 62% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 62% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♏ Scorpio.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 6 August 2011 at 11:08 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 ♏ Scorpio
Moon is leaving the last ∠2° of ♏ Scorpio tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♐ Sagittarius later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1945"
Lunar disc appears visually 2.8% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1945" and ∠1892".
Sturgeon Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2011 after 6 days on 13 August 2011 at 18:58.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 13 August 2011 at 18:58
- Last Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 21 August 2011 at 21:55
- New Moon in Virgo ♍ on 29 August 2011 at 03:04
- First Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 4 September 2011 at 17:39
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 143 / 1096
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 143 of Meeus index or 1096 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.35 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 24 minutes. It is 19 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 20 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 49 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠312.1°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠312.1°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠333.4°.
Moon after perigee
4 days after point of perigee on 2 August 2011 at 20:59 in ♍ Virgo. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 11 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 18 August 2011 at 16:23 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 368 443 km
The Moon is 368 443 km (228 940 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 11 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 161 km (251 755 mi).
Moon before ascending node
10 days after descending node on 27 July 2011 at 12:03 in ♊ Gemini. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following day, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 9 August 2011 at 06:35 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Draconic month
25 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 before southern standstill
11 days since the previous standstill on 27 July 2011 at 03:02 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠23.333°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠-23.270° at the point of next southern standstill on 8 August 2011 at 23:15 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 13 August 2011 at 18:58 in ♒ Aquarius 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.
