Last
Quarter ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Last Quarter 54% illuminated
Last Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 54% and getting smaller. The 21 days old Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 21 August 2011 at 21:55 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 midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.
Moon in ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠24° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1788"
Lunar disc appears visually 5.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1788" and ∠1897".
Harvest Moon after 21 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2011 after 21 days on 12 September 2011 at 09:27.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- New Moon in Virgo ♍ on 29 August 2011 at 03:04
- First Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 4 September 2011 at 17:39
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 12 September 2011 at 09:27
- Last Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 20 September 2011 at 13:39
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 21 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the last part of current synodic month. This is lunation 143 of Meeus index or 1096 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.35 days
Length of current 143 lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 24 minutes. It is 19 minutes longer than next lunation 144 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 4 hours and 20 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 1 hour and 49 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠312.1°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠312.1°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠333.4°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon after apogee
2 days after point of apogee on 18 August 2011 at 16:23 in ♈ Aries. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 9 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 30 August 2011 at 17:35 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 400 903 km
Moon is 400 903 km (249 110 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 9 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 360 858 km (224 227 mi).
Moon before descending node
12 days after its ascending node on 9 August 2011 at 06:35 in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 2 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 23 August 2011 at 17:23 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
12 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
12 days after previous South standstill on 8 August 2011 at 23:15 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-23.270°. Next 2 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠23.149° in the next northern standstill on 23 August 2011 at 12:17 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 7 days
After 7 days on 29 August 2011 at 03:04 in ♍ Virgo, the Moon will be in New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy.