First
Quarter ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 46% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 46% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 20 January 2021 at 21:02 UTC.
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
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♈ Aries
Moon is leaving the last ∠3° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♉ Taurus later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1771"
Lunar disc appears visually 9.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1771" and ∠1950".
Wolf Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2021 after 8 days on 28 January 2021 at 19:16.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Leo ♌ on 28 January 2021 at 19:16
- Last Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 4 February 2021 at 17:37
- New Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 11 February 2021 at 19:06
- First Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 19 February 2021 at 18:47
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 260 / 1213
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 260 of Meeus index or 1213 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.59 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 14 hours and 5 minutes. It is 1 hour and 10 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 21 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 42 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠53.8°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠53.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠87°.
Moon before perigee
10 days after point of perigee on 9 January 2021 at 15:39 in ♏ Scorpio. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 21 January 2021 at 13:11 in ♉ Taurus.
Distance to Moon 404 838 km
The Moon is 404 838 km (251 555 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 361 km (251 258 mi).
Moon before ascending node
9 days after descending node on 10 January 2021 at 20:15 in ♐ Sagittarius. 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 January 2021 at 21:47 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
22 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♊ Gemini, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
8 days since the previous standstill on 12 January 2021 at 08:18 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-24.870°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠24.898° at the point of next northern standstill on 26 January 2021 at 15:39 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 28 January 2021 at 19:16 in ♌ Leo 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.
