Waxing
Gibbous ♌ Leo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 60% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 60% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♋ Cancer.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 24 March 2018 at 15:35 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
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 ♋ Cancer
Moon is passing about ∠16° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1973"
Lunar disc appears visually 2.5% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1973" and ∠1924".
Worm Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2018 after 6 days on 31 March 2018 at 12:37.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Libra ♎ on 31 March 2018 at 12:37
- Last Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 8 April 2018 at 07:18
- New Moon in Aries ♈ on 16 April 2018 at 01:57
- First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 22 April 2018 at 21:46
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 225 / 1178
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 225 of Meeus index or 1178 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.53 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 46 minutes. It is 2 hours and 55 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 2 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 7 hours and 1 minute shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠262.6°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠262.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠296.5°.
Moon before apogee
14 days after point of apogee on 11 March 2018 at 09:13 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 26 March 2018 at 17:17 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 363 299 km
The Moon is 363 299 km (225 744 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next day until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 369 104 km (229 351 mi).
Moon before ascending node
11 days after descending node on 14 March 2018 at 03:48 in ♒ Aquarius. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following day, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 27 March 2018 at 10:56 in ♌ Leo.
Draconic month
25 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 at northern standstill
At 02:04 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach North declination of ∠20.210°. Over the next 13 days the lunar orbit is going to extend southward to face maximum declination of ∠-20.320° at the point of next standstill in ♑ Capricorn on 7 April 2018 at 14:37.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 31 March 2018 at 12:37 in ♎ Libra 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.
