First
Quarter ♑ Capricorn
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 46% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 46% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 22 September 2012 at 19:41 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
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 ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♑ Capricorn later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1964"
Lunar disc appears visually 2.7% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1964" and ∠1912".
Harvest Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2012 after 7 days on 30 September 2012 at 03:19.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Aries ♈ on 30 September 2012 at 03:19
- Last Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 8 October 2012 at 07:33
- New Moon in Libra ♎ on 15 October 2012 at 12:02
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 22 October 2012 at 03:32
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 157 / 1110
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 157 of Meeus index or 1110 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.41 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 52 minutes. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2012. It is 13 minutes shorter 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 52 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 17 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠312.9°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠312.9°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠334.3°.
Moon after perigee
3 days after point of perigee on 19 September 2012 at 02:52 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 12 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 5 October 2012 at 00:43 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 365 041 km
The Moon is 365 041 km (226 826 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 12 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 162 km (251 756 mi).
Moon after ascending node
1 day after ascending node on 20 September 2012 at 12:54 in ♏ Scorpio. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 11 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 4 October 2012 at 05:15 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
1 day since the beginning of current draconic month in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon at southern standstill
At 00:11 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach South declination of ∠-21.135°. Over the next 13 days the lunar orbit is going to extend northward to face maximum declination of ∠21.024° at the point of next standstill in ♊ Gemini on 6 October 2012 at 01:40.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 30 September 2012 at 03:19 in ♈ Aries 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.
