First
Quarter ♈ Aries
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 ♓ Pisces.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 7 December 2016 at 09:03 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
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 ♓ Pisces
Moon is passing about ∠17° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1915"
Lunar disc appears visually 1.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1915" and ∠1948".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2016 after 6 days on 14 December 2016 at 00:06.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 14 December 2016 at 00:06
- Last Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 21 December 2016 at 01:56
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 29 December 2016 at 06:53
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 5 January 2017 at 19:47
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 209 / 1162
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 209 of Meeus index or 1162 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.77 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes. It is 1 hour and 21 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 5 hours and 51 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 12 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠194.9°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠194.9°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠223.4°.
Moon before apogee
9 days after point of apogee on 27 November 2016 at 20:08 in ♏ Scorpio. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 12 December 2016 at 23:27 in ♉ Taurus.
Distance to Moon 374 375 km
The Moon is 374 375 km (232 626 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 5 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 463 km (222 739 mi).
Moon after descending node
1 day after descending node on 6 December 2016 at 17:35 in ♓ Pisces. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 11 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 19 December 2016 at 04:46 in ♍ Virgo.
Draconic month
15 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 southern standstill
5 days since the previous standstill on 1 December 2016 at 19:56 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-18.908°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠18.937° at the point of next northern standstill on 14 December 2016 at 21:43 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 14 December 2016 at 00:06 in ♊ Gemini 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.
