Waxing
Crescent ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Crescent 34% illuminated
Waxing Crescent is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 34% and growing larger. The 6 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
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
6 days after New Moon
Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 6 days on 23 January 2012 at 07:39.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.
Moon in ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠21° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1771"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1771" and ∠1948".
Snow Moon after 9 days
Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2012 after 9 days on 7 February 2012 at 21:54.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 31 January 2012 at 04:10
- Full Moon in Leo ♌ on 7 February 2012 at 21:54
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 14 February 2012 at 17:04
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 21 February 2012 at 22:35
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 149 / 1102
The Moon is 6 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the beginning to the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 149 of Meeus index or 1102 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.62 days
Length of current 149 lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 55 minutes. It is 1 hour and 8 minutes shorter than next lunation 150 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 2 hours and 11 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 4 hours and 52 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠70.8°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠70.8°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠107.8°. 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
11 days after point of perigee on 17 January 2012 at 21:28 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 30 January 2012 at 17:42 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 404 769 km
Moon is 404 769 km (251 512 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next day until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 404 325 km (251 236 mi).
Moon before descending node
9 days after its ascending node on 19 January 2012 at 18:26 in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 4 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 2 February 2012 at 20:02 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
9 days after previous South standstill on 20 January 2012 at 02:12 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-22.492°. Next 4 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠22.404° in the next northern standstill on 3 February 2012 at 07:11 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 9 days
After 9 days on 7 February 2012 at 21:54 in ♌ Leo, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.