Waning Crescent Moon
Waning Crescent MoonImage credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.(large image)

Waning Crescent in Gemini

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 6% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 27 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♊ Gemini

Moon is leaving the last ∠1° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♋ Cancer later.

5 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 5 days on 12 July 2020 at 23:29.

Sturgeon Moon after 16 days

Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2020 after 16 days on 3 August 2020 at 15:59.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1835"

Lunar disc appears visually 2.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1835" and ∠1888".

Lunation 253 / 1206

The Moon is 27 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 253 of Meeus index or 1206 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.45 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 52 minutes and it is 1 hour and 43 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decrease with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).

Lunation length shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 1 hour and 53 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 17 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠263.8°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠263.8° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠296.9°.

Moon after apogee

5 days since point of apogee on 12 July 2020 at 19:27 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 25 July 2020 at 04:54 in ♎ Libra.

Distance to Moon 390 644 km

The Moon is 390 644 km (242 735 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 6 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 368 367 km (228 893 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♊ Gemini at 12:33 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 12 days until Moon's next descending node later on 31 July 2020 at 09:32 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon before northern standstill

13 days since the last southern standstill on 5 July 2020 at 01:37 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-24.064° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠24.069° at the point of next northern standstill on 19 July 2020 at 11:51 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 12:33 in the point ot ascending node the Moon is completing the last draconic month and is entering a new one while the lunar orbit is crossing the ecliptic from South to North.

Syzygy in 2 days

In 2 days on 20 July 2020 at 17:33 in ♋ Cancer the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy alignment.

Lunar calendar

Sources and credits

Parts of this Lunar Calendar are based on Planetary Ephemeris Data Courtesy of Fred Espenak, www.Astropixels.com

Moon phase image credit to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, svs.gsfc.nasa.gov