Waxing
Gibbous ♍ Virgo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 61% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 61% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♌ Leo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 29 April 2012 at 09:58 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
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 ♌ Leo
Moon is passing about ∠24° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1886"
Lunar disc appears visually 1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1886" and ∠1904".
Flower Moon after 5 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2012 after 5 days on 6 May 2012 at 03:35.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 6 May 2012 at 03:35
- Last Quarter in Aquarius ♒ on 12 May 2012 at 21:47
- New Moon in Taurus ♉ on 20 May 2012 at 23:47
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 28 May 2012 at 20:16
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 152 / 1105
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 152 of Meeus index or 1105 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.69 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 29 minutes. It is 1 hour and 14 minutes longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 3 hours and 45 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 18 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠168.7°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠168.7°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠191.8°.
Moon before apogee
7 days after point of apogee on 22 April 2012 at 13:49 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 6 May 2012 at 03:33 in ♏ Scorpio.
Distance to Moon 380 015 km
The Moon is 380 015 km (236 130 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 5 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 954 km (221 801 mi).
Moon after descending node
6 days after descending node on 24 April 2012 at 03:44 in ♊ Gemini. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 6 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 7 May 2012 at 09:43 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Draconic month
20 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 after northern standstill
5 days since the previous standstill on 25 April 2012 at 05:37 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠21.738°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠-21.719° at the point of next southern standstill on 8 May 2012 at 06:18 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 5 days
In 5 days on 6 May 2012 at 03:35 in ♏ Scorpio 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.
