First
Quarter ♑ Capricorn
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 ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 12 September 2013 at 17:08 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is passing about ∠17° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1965"
Lunar disc appears visually 3% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1965" and ∠1907".
Harvest Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2013 after 6 days on 19 September 2013 at 11:13.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 19 September 2013 at 11:13
- Last Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 27 September 2013 at 03:56
- New Moon in Libra ♎ on 5 October 2013 at 00:35
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 11 October 2013 at 23:02
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 169 / 1122
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 169 of Meeus index or 1122 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.54 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 58 minutes. It is 43 minutes longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 14 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 49 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠249.2°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠249.2°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠285.3°.
Moon before apogee
12 days after point of apogee on 30 August 2013 at 23:46 in ♋ Cancer. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 15 September 2013 at 16:34 in ♑ Capricorn.
Distance to Moon 364 813 km
The Moon is 364 813 km (226 684 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 367 388 km (228 284 mi).
Moon after ascending node
2 days after ascending node on 9 September 2013 at 17:29 in ♏ Scorpio. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 10 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 22 September 2013 at 13:48 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
2 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon at southern standstill
At 18:30 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach South declination of ∠-19.685°. Over the next 13 days the lunar orbit is going to extend northward to face maximum declination of ∠19.599° at the point of next standstill in ♊ Gemini on 26 September 2013 at 01:03.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 19 September 2013 at 11:13 in ♓ Pisces 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.
