Waning
Gibbous ♍ Virgo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waning Gibbous 85% illuminated
Waning Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 85% and getting smaller. The 18 days old Moon is in ♌ Leo.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Moon phase and lunation details
4 days after Full Moon
Previous main lunar phase is the Full Moon before 4 days on 28 December 2012 at 10:21.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the evening and sets in the morning. It is visible to the southwest and it is high in the sky after midnight.
Moon in ♌ Leo
Moon is leaving the last ∠3° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♍ Virgo later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1842"
Lunar disc appears visually 5.8% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1842" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon before 4 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2013 after 25 days on 27 January 2013 at 04:38.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- 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
- Full Moon in Leo ♌ on 27 January 2013 at 04:38
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 18 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the middle to the last 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 after apogee
6 days after point of apogee on 25 December 2012 at 21:19 in ♊ Gemini. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 8 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 10 January 2013 at 10:26 in ♑ Capricorn.
Distance to Moon 389 156 km
The Moon is 389 156 km (241 810 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 8 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 360 048 km (223 723 mi).
Moon before ascending node
7 days after descending node on 24 December 2012 at 22:27 in ♉ Taurus. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 6 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 7 January 2013 at 23:50 in ♏ Scorpio.
Draconic month
20 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
5 days since the previous standstill on 26 December 2012 at 21:24 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠20.927°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 8 days to face maximum declination of ∠-20.879° at the point of next southern standstill on 9 January 2013 at 15:22 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 10 days
In 10 days on 11 January 2013 at 19:44 in ♑ Capricorn the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy alignment.
