Waxing
Gibbous ♒ Aquarius
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 ♒ Aquarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 22 October 2012 at 03:32 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 is entering ♒ Aquarius
Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♒ Aquarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1922"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1922" and ∠1929".
Hunter Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Hunter Moon of October 2012 after 7 days on 29 October 2012 at 19:50.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Taurus ♉ on 29 October 2012 at 19:50
- Last Quarter in Leo ♌ on 7 November 2012 at 00:36
- New Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 13 November 2012 at 22:08
- First Quarter in Aquarius ♒ on 20 November 2012 at 14:31
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 158 / 1111
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 158 of Meeus index or 1111 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.42 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 5 minutes. It is 29 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 39 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 30 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠334.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠334.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠351.3°.
Moon after perigee
5 days after point of perigee on 17 October 2012 at 01:02 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 10 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 1 November 2012 at 15:30 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 372 918 km
The Moon is 372 918 km (231 721 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 10 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 050 km (252 308 mi).
Moon after ascending node
4 days after ascending node on 17 October 2012 at 18:27 in ♏ Scorpio. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 8 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 31 October 2012 at 10:36 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
4 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon after southern standstill
3 days since the previous standstill on 19 October 2012 at 06:49 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-20.964°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠20.920° at the point of next northern standstill on 2 November 2012 at 08:15 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 29 October 2012 at 19:50 in ♉ Taurus 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.
