Waning
Crescent ♏ Scorpio
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waning Crescent 23% illuminated
Waning Crescent is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 23% and getting smaller. The 24 days old Moon is in ♏ Scorpio.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Moon phase and lunation details
2 days after Last Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 2 days on 18 December 2011 at 00:48.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.
Moon is entering ♏ Scorpio
Moon is passing first ∠1° of ♏ Scorpio tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1973"
Lunar disc appears visually 1.2% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1973" and ∠1950".
Wolf Moon after 19 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2012 after 19 days on 9 January 2012 at 07:30.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- New Moon in Sagittarius ♐ on 24 December 2011 at 18:06
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 1 January 2012 at 06:15
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 9 January 2012 at 07:30
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 16 January 2012 at 09:08
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 147 / 1100
The Moon is 24 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the second to the final part of current synodic month. This is lunation 147 of Meeus index or 1100 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.5 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 57 minutes. It is 1 hour and 36 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).
Lunation length shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 47 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 22 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠21.6°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠21.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠42.1°.
Moon before apogee
14 days after point of apogee on 6 December 2011 at 01:13 in ♈ Aries. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 22 December 2011 at 02:56 in ♏ Scorpio.
Distance to Moon 363 301 km
The Moon is 363 301 km (225 745 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next day until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 364 801 km (226 677 mi).
Moon before ascending node
10 days after descending node on 10 December 2011 at 07:04 in ♊ Gemini. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 2 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 23 December 2011 at 11:36 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Draconic month
24 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
9 days since the previous standstill on 10 December 2011 at 13:37 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠22.554°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 3 days to face maximum declination of ∠-22.554° at the point of next southern standstill on 23 December 2011 at 17:25 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 4 days
In 4 days on 24 December 2011 at 18:06 in ♐ Sagittarius the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy alignment.
