First
Quarter ♒ Aquarius
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 46% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 46% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♑ Capricorn.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 20 October 2015 at 20:31 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 ♑ Capricorn
Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♑ Capricorn tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1900"
Lunar disc appears visually 1.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1900" and ∠1927".
Hunter Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Hunter Moon of October 2015 after 7 days on 27 October 2015 at 12:05.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Taurus ♉ on 27 October 2015 at 12:05
- Last Quarter in Leo ♌ on 3 November 2015 at 12:24
- New Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 11 November 2015 at 17:47
- First Quarter in Aquarius ♒ on 19 November 2015 at 06:27
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 195 / 1148
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 195 of Meeus index or 1148 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.74 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2015. It is 59 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 4 hours and 57 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 6 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠192.9°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠192.9°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠220.3°.
Moon before apogee
8 days after point of apogee on 11 October 2015 at 13:17 in ♍ Virgo. 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 26 October 2015 at 12:59 in ♈ Aries.
Distance to Moon 377 345 km
The Moon is 377 345 km (234 471 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 464 km (222 739 mi).
Moon before descending node
9 days after ascending node on 11 October 2015 at 10:54 in ♎ Libra. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 4 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 25 October 2015 at 07:37 in ♈ Aries.
Draconic month
9 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 after southern standstill
1 day since the previous standstill on 18 October 2015 at 18:31 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-18.190°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠18.241° at the point of next northern standstill on 31 October 2015 at 09:02 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 27 October 2015 at 12:05 in ♉ Taurus 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.
