Waning
Crescent ♎ Libra
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Last Quarter 46% illuminated
Last Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 46% and getting smaller. The 22 days old Moon is in ♎ Libra.
* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 21 December 2016 at 01:56 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 midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.
Moon in ♎ Libra
Moon is passing about ∠5° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1803"
Lunar disc appears visually 7.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1803" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 21 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2017 after 21 days on 12 January 2017 at 11:34.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 29 December 2016 at 06:53
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 5 January 2017 at 19:47
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 12 January 2017 at 11:34
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 19 January 2017 at 22:14
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 22 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the last 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 perigee
8 days after point of perigee on 12 December 2016 at 23:27 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 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 25 December 2016 at 05:55 in ♏ Scorpio.
Distance to Moon 397 581 km
The Moon is 397 581 km (247 045 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 870 km (252 196 mi).
Moon after ascending node
2 days after ascending node on 19 December 2016 at 04:46 in ♍ Virgo. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 12 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 2 January 2017 at 18:14 in ♒ Aquarius.
Draconic month
2 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♍ Virgo, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
6 days since the previous standstill on 14 December 2016 at 21:43 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠18.937°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.958° at the point of next southern standstill on 29 December 2016 at 03:30 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 29 December 2016 at 06:53 in ♑ Capricorn the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy alignment.
