Waxing
Gibbous ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 62% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 62% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 31 January 2012 at 04:10 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
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 ♉ Taurus
Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♊ Gemini later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1775"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1775" and ∠1947".
Snow Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2012 after 6 days on 7 February 2012 at 21:54.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- 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
- First Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 1 March 2012 at 01:22
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 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through 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
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 55 minutes. It is 1 hour and 8 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 2 hours and 11 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 52 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠70.8°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠70.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠107.8°.
Moon after apogee
1 day after point of apogee on 30 January 2012 at 17:42 in ♈ Aries. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 10 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 11 February 2012 at 18:32 in ♎ Libra.
Distance to Moon 403 909 km
The Moon is 403 909 km (250 977 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 10 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 367 920 km (228 615 mi).
Moon before descending node
12 days after ascending node on 19 January 2012 at 18:26 in ♐ Sagittarius. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following day, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 2 February 2012 at 20:02 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
12 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
12 days since the previous standstill on 20 January 2012 at 02:12 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-22.492°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠22.404° at the point of next northern standstill on 3 February 2012 at 07:11 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 7 February 2012 at 21:54 in ♌ Leo 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.
