First Quarter on

Moon phase on 3 March 2020 Tuesday is First Quarter, 8 days young Moon is in Gemini.

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Moon phase for

Lunar calendar 2020 | March 2020

First Quarter phase
First Quarter phase
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

First Quarter 57% illuminated

First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 57% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♊ Gemini.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 2 March 2020 at 19:57 UTC.

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Moon phases for next 7 days

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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 ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠21° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1847"

Lunar disc appears visually 4.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1847" and ∠1935".

Worm Moon after 6 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2020 after 6 days on 9 March 2020 at 17:48.

Upcoming main Moon phases

  • Full Moon in Virgo ♍ on 9 March 2020 at 17:48
  • Last Quarter in Sagittarius ♐ on 16 March 2020 at 09:34
  • New Moon in Aries ♈ on 24 March 2020 at 09:28
  • First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 1 April 2020 at 10:21

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 249 / 1202

The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 249 of Meeus index or 1202 from Brown series.

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Synodic month length 29.75 days

The length of the lunation is 29 days, 17 hours and 56 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2020. It is 58 minutes longer 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 12 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 51 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit position on

True anomaly ∠152.6°

At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠152.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠177.9°.

Moon after apogee

6 days after point of apogee on 26 February 2020 at 11:35 in ♈ Aries. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 6 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 10 March 2020 at 06:33 in ♍ Virgo.

Previous apogeeNext perigee

Distance to Moon 388 031 km

The Moon is 388 031 km (241 111 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 123 km (221 906 mi).

Moon before ascending node

13 days after descending node on 19 February 2020 at 00:12 in ♑ Capricorn. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following day, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 4 March 2020 at 14:58 in ♊ Gemini.

Previous nodeNext node

Draconic month

26 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♋ Cancer, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.

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Moon before northern standstill

13 days since the previous standstill on 19 February 2020 at 08:58 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-23.319°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠23.441° at the point of next northern standstill on 5 March 2020 at 01:34 in ♋ Cancer.

Previous standstillNext standstill

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 9 March 2020 at 17:48 in ♍ Virgo 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.

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