First
Quarter ♋ Cancer
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 48% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 48% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♊ Gemini.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 19 March 2013 at 17:27 UTC.
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
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♊ Gemini
Moon is leaving the last ∠3° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♋ Cancer later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"
Lunar disc appears visually 8.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1927".
Worm Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2013 after 7 days on 27 March 2013 at 09:27.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Libra ♎ on 27 March 2013 at 09:27
- Last Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 3 April 2013 at 04:37
- New Moon in Aries ♈ on 10 April 2013 at 09:35
- First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 18 April 2013 at 12:31
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 163 / 1116
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 163 of Meeus index or 1116 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.57 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 44 minutes. It is 1 hour and 9 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 longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 1 hour longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 3 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠73.6°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠73.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠110.3°.
Moon at apogee
Moon is at apogee at 03:13. It is 13 days after previous perigee on 5 March 2013 at 23:20 in ♐ Sagittarius. Lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the next 11 days, until point of next perigee on 31 March 2013 at 03:55 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Distance to Moon 404 262 km
This apogee Moon is 404 262 km (251 197 mi) away from Earth. This is the year's closest apogee of 2013. It is 1 146 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 211 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.
Moon after descending node
3 days after descending node on 16 March 2013 at 06:15 in ♉ Taurus. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 10 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 30 March 2013 at 05:55 in ♏ Scorpio.
Draconic month
16 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
1 day since the previous standstill on 18 March 2013 at 21:50 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠20.335°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 13 days to face maximum declination of ∠-20.250° at the point of next southern standstill on 1 April 2013 at 12:03 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 27 March 2013 at 09:27 in ♎ Libra 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.
