Waxing
Crescent ♒ Aquarius
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Crescent 23% illuminated
Waxing Crescent is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 23% and growing larger. The 5 days young Moon is in ♒ Aquarius.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Moon phase and lunation details
5 days after New Moon
Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 5 days on 7 December 2018 at 07:20.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.
Moon in ♒ Aquarius
Moon is passing about ∠18° of ♒ Aquarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.8% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1949".
Cold Moon after 10 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2018 after 10 days on 22 December 2018 at 17:49.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- First Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 15 December 2018 at 11:49
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 22 December 2018 at 17:49
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 29 December 2018 at 09:34
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 6 January 2019 at 01:28
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 234 / 1187
The Moon is 5 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the beginning to the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 234 of Meeus index or 1187 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.76 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 8 minutes. It is 1 hour and 27 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 longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 5 hours and 24 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 39 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠116.6°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠116.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠149.4°.
Moon at apogee
Moon is at apogee at 12:25. It is 16 days after previous perigee on 26 November 2018 at 12:10 in ♋ Cancer. Lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the next 11 days, until point of next perigee on 24 December 2018 at 09:52 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 405 177 km
This apogee Moon is 405 177 km (251 765 mi) away from Earth. It is 231 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 1 532 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.
Moon after descending node
1 day after descending node on 10 December 2018 at 17:57 in ♑ Capricorn. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 11 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 24 December 2018 at 11:54 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
15 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♋ Cancer, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon after southern standstill
3 days since the previous standstill on 9 December 2018 at 11:12 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-21.539°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠21.550° at the point of next northern standstill on 23 December 2018 at 11:48 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 10 days
In 10 days on 22 December 2018 at 17:49 in ♊ Gemini 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.
