Waning Crescent Moon
Waning Crescent MoonImage credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.(large image)

Waning Crescent in Leo

Waning Crescent on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 9% and getting smaller. The lunar cycle is 26 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♌ Leo

Moon is passing about ∠20° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.

4 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 4 days on 13 September 2017 at 06:25.

Hunter Moon after 18 days

Next Full Moon is the Hunter Moon of October 2017 after 18 days on 5 October 2017 at 18:40.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1926"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.9% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1926" and ∠1909".

Lunation 218 / 1171

The Moon is 26 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 218 of Meeus index or 1171 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.46 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 1 minute and it is 2 hours and 42 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increase with the lunar orbit 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 1 hour and 44 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 25 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠49.5°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠49.5° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠79°.

Moon after perigee

3 days since point of perigee on 13 September 2017 at 16:04 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 27 September 2017 at 06:49 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Distance to Moon 372 085 km

The Moon is 372 085 km (231 203 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 9 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 342 km (251 246 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♌ Leo at 18:28 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 14 days until Moon's next descending node later on 2 October 2017 at 02:05 in ♒ Aquarius.

Moon after northern standstill

2 days since the last northern standstill on 14 September 2017 at 13:00 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠19.438° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-19.516° at the point of next southern standstill on 28 September 2017 at 10:06 in ♑ Capricorn.

New draconic month

At 18:28 in the point ot ascending node the Moon is completing the last draconic month and is entering a new one while the lunar orbit is crossing the ecliptic from South to North.

Syzygy in 2 days

In 2 days on 20 September 2017 at 05:30 in ♍ Virgo 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.

Lunar calendar

Sources and credits

Parts of this Lunar Calendar are based on Planetary Ephemeris Data Courtesy of Fred Espenak, www.Astropixels.com

Moon phase image credit to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, svs.gsfc.nasa.gov