First
Quarter ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 47% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 47% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 17 February 2013 at 20:31 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
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 ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠25° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1776"
Lunar disc appears visually 8.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1776" and ∠1941".
Snow Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2013 after 8 days on 25 February 2013 at 20:26.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Virgo ♍ on 25 February 2013 at 20:26
- Last Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 4 March 2013 at 21:53
- New Moon in Pisces ♓ on 11 March 2013 at 19:51
- First Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 19 March 2013 at 17:27
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 162 / 1115
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 162 of Meeus index or 1115 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.52 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 31 minutes. It is 1 hour and 13 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 13 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 56 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠44.2°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠44.2°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠73.6°.
Moon before perigee
9 days after point of perigee on 7 February 2013 at 12:09 in ♑ Capricorn. 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 19 February 2013 at 06:30 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 403 678 km
The Moon is 403 678 km (250 834 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 475 km (251 329 mi).
Moon in descending node
Moon is in descending node in ♉ Taurus at 02:57 crossing the ecliptic from North to South to meet ascending node 13 days later on 3 March 2013 at 02:30 in ♏ Scorpio.
Draconic month
13 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 6 February 2013 at 00:27 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-20.704°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠20.583° at the point of next northern standstill on 19 February 2013 at 13:35 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 25 February 2013 at 20:26 in ♍ Virgo 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.
