First
Quarter ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 53% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 53% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 20 December 2012 at 05:19 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 is entering ♈ Aries
Moon is passing first ∠2° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1833"
Lunar disc appears visually 6.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1833" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2012 after 7 days on 28 December 2012 at 10:21.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 28 December 2012 at 10:21
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 5 January 2013 at 03:58
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 11 January 2013 at 19:44
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 18 January 2013 at 23:45
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 160 / 1113
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 160 of Meeus index or 1113 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.46 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 2 minutes. It is 34 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 1 hour and 42 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 27 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠6.8°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠6.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠23.3°.
Moon before perigee
7 days after point of perigee on 12 December 2012 at 23:14 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 25 December 2012 at 21:19 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 391 007 km
The Moon is 391 007 km (242 960 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 5 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 101 km (252 339 mi).
Moon before descending node
8 days after ascending node on 11 December 2012 at 15:57 in ♏ Scorpio. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 4 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 24 December 2012 at 22:27 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
8 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 before northern standstill
7 days since the previous standstill on 13 December 2012 at 03:48 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-20.926°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠20.927° at the point of next northern standstill on 26 December 2012 at 21:24 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 28 December 2012 at 10:21 in ♋ Cancer 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.
