Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 61% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 61% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♓ Pisces.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 4 December 2019 at 06:58 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 ♓ Pisces
Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♈ Aries later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1947".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2019 after 6 days on 12 December 2019 at 05:12.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 12 December 2019 at 05:12
- Last Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 19 December 2019 at 04:57
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 26 December 2019 at 05:13
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 3 January 2020 at 04:45
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 246 / 1199
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 246 of Meeus index or 1199 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.59 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 8 minutes. It is 2 hours and 21 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 1 hour and 23 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 39 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠50.7°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠50.7°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠82.6°.
Moon at apogee
Moon is at apogee at 04:09. It is 11 days after previous perigee on 23 November 2019 at 07:54 in ♎ Libra. Lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the next 13 days, until point of next perigee on 18 December 2019 at 20:30 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 404 447 km
This apogee Moon is 404 447 km (251 312 mi) away from Earth. It is 961 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 2 262 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.
Moon after descending node
6 days after descending node on 29 November 2019 at 04:13 in ♑ Capricorn. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 8 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 13 December 2019 at 14:15 in ♋ Cancer.
Draconic month
19 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
6 days since the previous standstill on 29 November 2019 at 10:36 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-23.200°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 8 days to face maximum declination of ∠23.226° at the point of next northern standstill on 13 December 2019 at 20:57 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 12 December 2019 at 05:12 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.
