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 ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 26 December 2017 at 09:20 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
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 ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠6° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1873"
Lunar disc appears visually 4.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1873" and ∠1951".
Wolf Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2018 after 6 days on 2 January 2018 at 02:24.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 2 January 2018 at 02:24
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 8 January 2018 at 22:25
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 17 January 2018 at 02:17
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 24 January 2018 at 22:20
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 222 / 1175
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 222 of Meeus index or 1175 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.82 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 47 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2017. It is 59 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 7 hours and 3 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length and it is the longest synodic month length of 21st century.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠173.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠173.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠198.1°.
Moon before apogee
7 days after point of apogee on 19 December 2017 at 01:27 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 6 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 1 January 2018 at 21:54 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 382 700 km
The Moon is 382 700 km (237 799 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 566 km (221 560 mi).
Moon after descending node
4 days after descending node on 22 December 2017 at 10:04 in ♒ Aquarius. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 8 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 4 January 2018 at 07:48 in ♌ Leo.
Draconic month
18 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♌ Leo, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
7 days since the previous standstill on 19 December 2017 at 09:31 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-20.062°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠20.055° at the point of next northern standstill on 2 January 2018 at 00:01 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 2 January 2018 at 02:24 in ♋ Cancer 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.
