First
Quarter ♑ Capricorn
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 ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 16 September 2018 at 23:15 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 ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is passing about ∠18° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1799"
Lunar disc appears visually 5.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1799" and ∠1909".
Harvest Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2018 after 8 days on 25 September 2018 at 02:53.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Aries ♈ on 25 September 2018 at 02:53
- Last Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 2 October 2018 at 09:45
- New Moon in Libra ♎ on 9 October 2018 at 03:47
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 16 October 2018 at 18:02
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 231 / 1184
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 231 of Meeus index or 1184 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.41 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 45 minutes. It is 2 hours and 30 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the 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 2 hours and 59 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 10 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠28°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠28°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠49.6°.
Moon before perigee
8 days after point of perigee on 8 September 2018 at 01:21 in ♌ Leo. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 20 September 2018 at 00:54 in ♒ Aquarius.
Distance to Moon 398 465 km
The Moon is 398 465 km (247 595 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 3 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 875 km (251 578 mi).
Moon before descending node
9 days after ascending node on 6 September 2018 at 22:42 in ♋ Cancer. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 3 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 20 September 2018 at 09:30 in ♒ Aquarius.
Draconic month
9 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♋ Cancer, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before southern standstill
11 days since the previous standstill on 5 September 2018 at 06:56 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠20.837°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠-20.909° at the point of next southern standstill on 18 September 2018 at 09:35 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 25 September 2018 at 02:53 in ♈ Aries 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.
