Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 62% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 62% and growing larger. The 8 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
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 in ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠15° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1813"
Lunar disc appears visually 7.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1813" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2012 after 6 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
Moderate tide
There is medium ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at very acute angle, so their combined tidal force is moderate.
Lunation 160 / 1113
The Moon is 8 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
Length of current 160 lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 2 minutes. It is 34 minutes shorter than next lunation 161 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 1 hour and 42 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 4 hours and 27 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠6.8°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠6.8°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠23.3°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
Moon before apogee
8 days after point of perigee on 12 December 2012 at 23:14 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 4 days, until it get to the point of next apogee on 25 December 2012 at 21:19 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 395 316 km
Moon is 395 316 km (245 638 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next 4 days until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 406 101 km (252 339 mi).
Moon before descending node
9 days after its ascending node on 11 December 2012 at 15:57 in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 3 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 24 December 2012 at 22:27 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
9 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
8 days after previous South standstill on 13 December 2012 at 03:48 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-20.926°. Next 5 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠20.927° in the next northern standstill on 26 December 2012 at 21:24 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 28 December 2012 at 10:21 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.