First
Quarter ♑ Capricorn
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 51% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 51% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 21 September 2015 at 08:59 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
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 is entering ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is passing first ∠0° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1865"
Lunar disc appears visually 2.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1865" and ∠1911".
Harvest Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2015 after 6 days on 28 September 2015 at 02:50.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Aries ♈ on 28 September 2015 at 02:50
- Last Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 4 October 2015 at 21:06
- New Moon in Libra ♎ on 13 October 2015 at 00:06
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 20 October 2015 at 20:31
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 194 / 1147
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 194 of Meeus index or 1147 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.73 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 17 hours and 24 minutes. It is 17 minutes shorter 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 4 hours and 40 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 23 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠169.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠169.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠192.9°.
Moon before apogee
7 days after point of apogee on 14 September 2015 at 11:28 in ♎ Libra. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 6 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 28 September 2015 at 01:46 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 384 282 km
The Moon is 384 282 km (238 782 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 877 km (221 753 mi).
Moon before descending node
7 days after ascending node on 14 September 2015 at 04:38 in ♎ Libra. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 6 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 27 September 2015 at 21:04 in ♓ Pisces.
Draconic month
7 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♎ Libra, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon at southern standstill
At 12:02 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach South declination of ∠-18.134°. This is the year's southernmost lunar standstill of 2015. Over the next 12 days the lunar orbit is going to extend northward to face maximum declination of ∠18.140° at the point of next standstill in ♊ Gemini on 3 October 2015 at 23:55.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 28 September 2015 at 02:50 in ♈ Aries 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.
