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
Length of current 148 lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 33 minutes. It is 1 hour and 22 minutes shorter than next lunation 149 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 49 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 6 hours and 14 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠42.1°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠42.1°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠70.8°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
Moon before apogee
9 days after point of perigee on 22 December 2011 at 02:56 in ♏ Scorpio. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 2 days, until it get to the point of next apogee on 2 January 2012 at 20:19 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 402 276 km
Moon is 402 276 km (249 963 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next 2 days until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 404 580 km (251 394 mi).
Moon before descending node
8 days after its ascending node on 23 December 2011 at 11:36 in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 6 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 6 January 2012 at 14:30 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
8 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
7 days after previous South standstill on 23 December 2011 at 17:25 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-22.554°. Next 6 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠22.539° in the next northern standstill on 6 January 2012 at 21:46 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 8 days
After 8 days on 9 January 2012 at 07:30 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.