First
Quarter ♍ Virgo
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 ♌ Leo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 13 May 2016 at 17:02 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
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 ♌ Leo
Moon is passing about ∠21° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1833"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1833" and ∠1898".
Flower Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2016 after 8 days on 21 May 2016 at 21:15.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 21 May 2016 at 21:15
- Last Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 29 May 2016 at 12:12
- New Moon in Gemini ♊ on 5 June 2016 at 03:00
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 12 June 2016 at 08:10
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 202 / 1155
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 202 of Meeus index or 1155 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.31 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 30 minutes. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2016. It is 31 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 5 hours and 14 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 55 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠10.8°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠10.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠27.6°.
Moon before perigee
7 days after point of perigee on 6 May 2016 at 04:14 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 18 May 2016 at 22:06 in ♎ Libra.
Distance to Moon 390 978 km
The Moon is 390 978 km (242 942 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 5 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 934 km (252 236 mi).
Moon before ascending node
10 days after descending node on 3 May 2016 at 01:27 in ♓ Pisces. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 2 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 15 May 2016 at 20:39 in ♍ Virgo.
Draconic month
24 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 after northern standstill
3 days since the previous standstill on 9 May 2016 at 21:54 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.447°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.539° at the point of next southern standstill on 24 May 2016 at 11:16 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 21 May 2016 at 21:15 in ♏ Scorpio 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.
