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 15 March 2016 at 17:03 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 passing about ∠23° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1923"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1923" and ∠1929".
Worm Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2016 after 8 days on 23 March 2016 at 12:01.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Libra ♎ on 23 March 2016 at 12:01
- Last Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 31 March 2016 at 15:17
- New Moon in Aries ♈ on 7 April 2016 at 11:24
- First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 14 April 2016 at 03:59
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 200 / 1153
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 200 of Meeus index or 1153 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.4 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 29 minutes. It is 1 hour and 23 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 3 hours and 15 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 54 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠339.5°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠339.5°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠355.6°.
Moon after perigee
5 days after point of perigee on 10 March 2016 at 07:02 in ♈ Aries. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 10 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 25 March 2016 at 14:16 in ♎ Libra.
Distance to Moon 372 816 km
The Moon is 372 816 km (231 657 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 10 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 125 km (252 354 mi).
Moon after descending node
6 days after descending node on 9 March 2016 at 06:31 in ♓ Pisces. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 7 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 22 March 2016 at 12:59 in ♍ Virgo.
Draconic month
20 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♍ Virgo, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
11 days since the previous standstill on 3 March 2016 at 14:19 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-18.210°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠18.206° at the point of next northern standstill on 16 March 2016 at 05:01 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 23 March 2016 at 12:01 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.
