First
Quarter ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 54% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 54% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♊ Gemini.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 1 March 2012 at 01:22 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 ♊ Gemini
Moon is passing about ∠16° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1789"
Lunar disc appears visually 7.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1789" and ∠1936".
Worm Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2012 after 6 days on 8 March 2012 at 09:40.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Virgo ♍ on 8 March 2012 at 09:40
- Last Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 15 March 2012 at 01:25
- New Moon in Pisces ♓ on 22 March 2012 at 14:37
- First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 30 March 2012 at 19:41
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 150 / 1103
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 150 of Meeus index or 1103 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.67 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 3 minutes. It is 38 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 3 hours and 18 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 44 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠107.8°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠107.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠142.2°.
Moon after apogee
2 days after point of apogee on 27 February 2012 at 14:01 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 8 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 10 March 2012 at 10:02 in ♎ Libra.
Distance to Moon 400 679 km
The Moon is 400 679 km (248 970 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 8 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 362 401 km (225 186 mi).
Moon after descending node
1 day after descending node on 29 February 2012 at 22:37 in ♊ Gemini. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 12 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 13 March 2012 at 20:41 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Draconic month
14 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon at northern standstill
At 16:13 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach North declination of ∠22.150°. Over the next 13 days the lunar orbit is going to extend southward to face maximum declination of ∠-22.032° at the point of next standstill in ♐ Sagittarius on 14 March 2012 at 14:09.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 8 March 2012 at 09:40 in ♍ Virgo 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.
