First
Quarter ♌ Leo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 45% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 45% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♋ Cancer.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 22 April 2018 at 21:46 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 leaving the last ∠3° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♌ Leo later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1972"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.3% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1972" and ∠1908".
Pink Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2018 after 7 days on 30 April 2018 at 00:58.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 30 April 2018 at 00:58
- Last Quarter in Aquarius ♒ on 8 May 2018 at 02:09
- New Moon in Taurus ♉ on 15 May 2018 at 11:48
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 22 May 2018 at 03:49
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 226 / 1179
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 226 of Meeus index or 1179 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.41 days
Length of current 226 lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 51 minutes. It is 1 hour and 56 minutes longer than next lunation 227 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 2 hours and 53 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 3 hours and 16 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠296.5°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠296.5°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠321.7°. 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 after perigee
1 day after point of perigee on 20 April 2018 at 14:44 in ♊ Gemini. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 13 days, until it get to the point of next apogee on 6 May 2018 at 00:35 in ♑ Capricorn.
Distance to Moon 363 492 km
Moon is 363 492 km (225 863 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next 13 days until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 404 458 km (251 319 mi).
Moon before ascending node
12 days after its descending node on 10 April 2018 at 08:09 in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next day, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 23 April 2018 at 12:19 in ♌ Leo.
Draconic month
26 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♌ Leo, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon after northern standstill
1 day after previous North standstill on 21 April 2018 at 07:38 in ♋ Cancer, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠20.445°. Next 12 days the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-20.562° in the next southern standstill on 4 May 2018 at 23:00 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 7 days
After 7 days on 30 April 2018 at 00:58 in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.