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
Length of current 222 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 next lunation 223 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 7 hours and 3 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month and it is the longest synodic month length of a for 21st century.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠173.3°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠173.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠198.1°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon before perigee
7 days after point of apogee on 19 December 2017 at 01:27 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 6 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 1 January 2018 at 21:54 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 382 700 km
Moon is 382 700 km (237 799 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 6 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 356 566 km (221 560 mi).
Moon after descending node
4 days after its descending node on 22 December 2017 at 10:04 in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 8 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 4 January 2018 at 07:48 in ♌ Leo.
Draconic month
18 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♌ Leo, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
7 days after previous South standstill on 19 December 2017 at 09:31 in ♑ Capricorn, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-20.062°. Next 6 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠20.055° in the next northern standstill on 2 January 2018 at 00:01 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 2 January 2018 at 02:24 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.