Last Quarter on

Moon phase on 21 March 2017 Tuesday is Last Quarter, 22 days old Moon is in Capricorn.

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Moon phase for

Lunar calendar 2017 | March 2017

Last Quarter phase
Last Quarter phase
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

Last Quarter 42% illuminated

Last Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 42% and getting smaller. The 22 days old Moon is in ♑ Capricorn.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 20 March 2017 at 15:58 UTC.

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Moon phases for next 7 days

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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 ♑ Capricorn

Moon is passing about ∠10° of ♑ Capricorn tropical zodiac sector.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1787"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1787" and ∠1926".

Pink Moon after 20 days

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2017 after 20 days on 11 April 2017 at 06:08.

Upcoming main Moon phases

  • New Moon in Aries ♈ on 28 March 2017 at 02:57
  • First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 3 April 2017 at 18:39
  • Full Moon in Libra ♎ on 11 April 2017 at 06:08
  • Last Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 19 April 2017 at 09:57

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 212 / 1165

The Moon is 22 days old. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the last part of current synodic month. This is lunation 212 of Meeus index or 1165 from Brown series.

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Synodic month length 29.5 days

The length of the lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 59 minutes. It is 2 hours and 40 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 45 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 24 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit position on

True anomaly ∠295°

At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠295°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠321.4°.

Moon after apogee

2 days after point of apogee on 18 March 2017 at 17:25 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 30 March 2017 at 12:39 in ♉ Taurus.

Previous apogeeNext perigee

Distance to Moon 401 096 km

The Moon is 401 096 km (249 229 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 9 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 363 855 km (226 089 mi).

Moon before descending node

10 days after ascending node on 11 March 2017 at 04:17 in ♍ Virgo. 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 March 2017 at 15:41 in ♒ Aquarius.

Previous nodeNext node

Draconic month

10 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♍ Virgo, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.

PreviousCurrent draconic monthNext

Moon at southern standstill

At 05:22 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach South declination of ∠-18.912°. Over the next 12 days the lunar orbit is going to extend northward to face maximum declination of ∠18.984° at the point of next standstill in ♋ Cancer on 3 April 2017 at 06:12.

Previous standstillNext standstill

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 28 March 2017 at 02:57 in ♈ Aries 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.

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