Waxing
Gibbous ♊ Gemini
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 88% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 88% and growing larger. The 11 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Moon phase and lunation details
4 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 4 days on 21 December 2020 at 23:41.
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 ∠24° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1772"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1772" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 3 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2020 after 3 days on 30 December 2020 at 03:28.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 30 December 2020 at 03:28
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 6 January 2021 at 09:37
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 13 January 2021 at 05:00
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 20 January 2021 at 21:02
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 259 / 1212
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 259 of Meeus index or 1212 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.53 days
Length of current 259 lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. It is 1 hour and 21 minutes shorter than next lunation 260 length.
Lunation length same as the mean
Length of current synodic month is equal to the mean length of synodic month. It is 6 hours and 9 minutes longer than the 21st century shortest and 7 hours and 3 minutes shorter than the 21st century longest synodic month.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠30.1°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠30.1°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠53.8°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
Moon after apogee
1 day after point of apogee on 24 December 2020 at 16:32 in ♈ Aries. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 14 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 9 January 2021 at 15:39 in ♏ Scorpio.
Distance to Moon 404 434 km
Moon is 404 434 km (251 304 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 14 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 367 390 km (228 286 mi).
Moon before ascending node
12 days after its descending node on 14 December 2020 at 11:03 in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 2 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 28 December 2020 at 15:03 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
25 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♊ Gemini, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
10 days after previous South standstill on 15 December 2020 at 22:23 in ♑ Capricorn, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-24.879°. Next 3 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠24.868° in the next northern standstill on 30 December 2020 at 07:53 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 3 days
After 3 days on 30 December 2020 at 03:28 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.