First
Quarter ♐ Sagittarius
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 49% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 49% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 24 August 2012 at 13:54 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
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 is entering ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is passing first ∠1° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1973"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.9% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1973" and ∠1898".
Sturgeon Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2012 after 7 days on 31 August 2012 at 13:58.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 31 August 2012 at 13:58
- Last Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 8 September 2012 at 13:15
- New Moon in Virgo ♍ on 16 September 2012 at 02:11
- First Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 22 September 2012 at 19:41
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 156 / 1109
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 156 of Meeus index or 1109 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.43 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 16 minutes. It is 24 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 2 hours and 28 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 41 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠283.7°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠283.7°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠312.9°.
Moon after perigee
1 day after point of perigee on 23 August 2012 at 19:39 in ♏ Scorpio. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 13 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 7 September 2012 at 06:00 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 363 323 km
The Moon is 363 323 km (225 758 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 13 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 296 km (251 218 mi).
Moon in ascending node
Moon is in ascending node in ♐ Sagittarius at 11:38 crossing the ecliptic from South to North to meet descending node 13 days later on 7 September 2012 at 02:08 in ♉ Taurus.
New draconic month
At 11:38 the Moon completes the previous draconic month and enters the new one.
Moon before southern standstill
12 days since the previous standstill on 12 August 2012 at 09:47 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠21.492°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠-21.379° at the point of next southern standstill on 25 August 2012 at 18:40 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 31 August 2012 at 13:58 in ♓ Pisces 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.
