First
Quarter* ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Crescent 43% illuminated
Waxing Crescent is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 43% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Moon phase and lunation details
6 days after New Moon
Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 6 days on 24 December 2011 at 18:06.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.
Moon is entering ♈ Aries
Moon is passing first ∠1° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1782"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1782" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2012 after 8 days on 9 January 2012 at 07:30.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- 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
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 23 January 2012 at 07:39
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 148 / 1101
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the beginning to the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 148 of Meeus index or 1101 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.56 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 33 minutes. It is 1 hour and 22 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 longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 49 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 14 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠42.1°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠42.1°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠70.8°.
Moon before perigee
9 days after point of perigee on 22 December 2011 at 02:56 in ♏ Scorpio. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 2 January 2012 at 20:19 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 402 276 km
The Moon is 402 276 km (249 963 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 2 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 580 km (251 394 mi).
Moon before descending node
8 days after ascending node on 23 December 2011 at 11:36 in ♐ Sagittarius. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 6 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 6 January 2012 at 14:30 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
8 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
7 days since the previous standstill on 23 December 2011 at 17:25 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-22.554°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠22.539° at the point of next northern standstill on 6 January 2012 at 21:46 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 9 January 2012 at 07:30 in ♋ Cancer 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.
