Waxing
Gibbous ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 87% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 87% and growing larger. The 11 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
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
4 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 4 days on 15 December 2018 at 11:49.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.
Moon in ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠15° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1871"
Lunar disc appears visually 4.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1871" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 3 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2018 after 3 days on 22 December 2018 at 17:49.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- 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
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 14 January 2019 at 06:45
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 234 / 1187
The Moon is 11 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the first to the middle 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 before apogee
6 days after point of apogee on 12 December 2018 at 12:25 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 4 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 24 December 2018 at 09:52 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 383 132 km
The Moon is 383 132 km (238 067 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 4 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 361 060 km (224 352 mi).
Moon before ascending node
8 days after descending node on 10 December 2018 at 17:57 in ♑ Capricorn. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 4 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 24 December 2018 at 11:54 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
22 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 before northern standstill
10 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 3 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 3 days
In 3 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.
