First
Quarter ♐ Sagittarius
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 ♏ Scorpio.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 22 August 2015 at 19:31 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
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 ♏ Scorpio
Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♏ Scorpio tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♐ Sagittarius later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1813"
Lunar disc appears visually 4.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1813" and ∠1897".
Sturgeon Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2015 after 7 days on 29 August 2015 at 18:35.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 29 August 2015 at 18:35
- Last Quarter in Gemini ♊ on 5 September 2015 at 09:54
- New Moon in Virgo ♍ on 13 September 2015 at 06:41
- First Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 21 September 2015 at 08:59
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 193 / 1146
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 193 of Meeus index or 1146 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.66 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 15 hours and 48 minutes. It is 1 hour and 36 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 3 hours and 4 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 59 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠144.1°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠144.1°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠169.3°.
Moon after apogee
4 days after point of apogee on 18 August 2015 at 02:33 in ♎ Libra. 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 30 August 2015 at 15:24 in ♓ Pisces.
Distance to Moon 395 375 km
The Moon is 395 375 km (245 675 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 8 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 289 km (222 630 mi).
Moon after ascending node
4 days after ascending node on 17 August 2015 at 23:05 in ♍ Virgo. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 8 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 31 August 2015 at 10:16 in ♈ Aries.
Draconic month
4 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♍ Virgo, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before southern standstill
12 days since the previous standstill on 10 August 2015 at 11:11 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.288°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.206° at the point of next southern standstill on 25 August 2015 at 03:44 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 29 August 2015 at 18:35 in ♒ Aquarius 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.
