First
Quarter ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 52% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 52% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 1 January 2012 at 06:15 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 noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠13° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1773"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1773" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2012 after 7 days on 9 January 2012 at 07:30.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- 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
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 31 January 2012 at 04:10
Moderate tide
There is medium ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at very acute angle, so their combined tidal force is moderate.
Lunation 148 / 1101
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through 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
10 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 day, until it get to the point of next apogee on 2 January 2012 at 20:19 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 404 294 km
Moon is 404 294 km (251 217 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next day until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 404 580 km (251 394 mi).
Moon before descending node
9 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 5 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
9 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
8 days after previous South standstill on 23 December 2011 at 17:25 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-22.554°. Next 5 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 7 days
After 7 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.