Waxing
Gibbous ♑ Capricorn
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 58% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 58% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 4 September 2011 at 17:39 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
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 ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1915"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.6% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1915" and ∠1903".
Harvest Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2011 after 6 days on 12 September 2011 at 09:27.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 12 September 2011 at 09:27
- Last Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 20 September 2011 at 13:39
- New Moon in Libra ♎ on 27 September 2011 at 11:09
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 4 October 2011 at 03:15
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 144 / 1097
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 144 of Meeus index or 1097 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.34 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 5 minutes. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2011. It is 42 minutes shorter 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 39 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 30 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠333.4°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠333.4°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠350.1°.
Moon after perigee
5 days after point of perigee on 30 August 2011 at 17:35 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 9 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 15 September 2011 at 06:23 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 374 236 km
The Moon is 374 236 km (232 539 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 9 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 068 km (252 319 mi).
Moon in ascending node
Moon is in ascending node in ♐ Sagittarius at 07:36 crossing the ecliptic from South to North to meet descending node 14 days later on 19 September 2011 at 19:38 in ♊ Gemini.
New draconic month
At 07:36 the Moon completes the previous draconic month and enters the new one.
Moon at southern standstill
At 05:01 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach South declination of ∠-23.047°. Over the next 14 days the lunar orbit is going to extend northward to face maximum declination of ∠22.890° at the point of next standstill in ♊ Gemini on 19 September 2011 at 20:05.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 12 September 2011 at 09:27 in ♓ Pisces 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.
