Waxing
Gibbous ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 87% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 87% and growing larger. The 11 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
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
4 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 4 days on 20 December 2012 at 05:19.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.
Moon in ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠21° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1774"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1774" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 3 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2012 after 3 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 11 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the first to the middle 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
11 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 day, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 25 December 2012 at 21:19 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 404 057 km
The Moon is 404 057 km (251 069 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 101 km (252 339 mi).
Moon in descending node
Moon is in descending node in ♉ Taurus at 22:27 crossing the ecliptic from North to South to meet ascending node 14 days later on 7 January 2013 at 23:50 in ♏ Scorpio.
Draconic month
12 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is navigating from the middle to the last part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
11 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 2 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 3 days
In 3 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.