First
Quarter ♏ Scorpio
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 51% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 51% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♎ Libra.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 17 July 2021 at 10:11 UTC.
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
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon in ♎ Libra
Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♏ Scorpio later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1956"
Lunar disc appears visually 3.5% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1956" and ∠1888".
Buck Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Buck Moon of July 2021 after 6 days on 24 July 2021 at 02:37.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Aquarius ♒ on 24 July 2021 at 02:37
- Last Quarter in Taurus ♉ on 31 July 2021 at 13:16
- New Moon in Leo ♌ on 8 August 2021 at 13:50
- First Quarter in Scorpio ♏ on 15 August 2021 at 15:20
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 266 / 1219
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 266 of Meeus index or 1219 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.52 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 34 minutes. It is 1 hour and 32 minutes longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the 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 11 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 59 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠230.1°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠230.1°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠264.3°.
Moon before apogee
11 days after point of apogee on 5 July 2021 at 14:48 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 21 July 2021 at 10:30 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Distance to Moon 366 475 km
The Moon is 366 475 km (227 717 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 364 520 km (226 502 mi).
Moon before descending node
10 days after ascending node on 6 July 2021 at 22:41 in ♊ Gemini. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 3 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 20 July 2021 at 13:22 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Draconic month
10 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♊ Gemini, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before southern standstill
8 days since the previous standstill on 9 July 2021 at 10:05 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠25.622°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 5 days to face maximum declination of ∠-25.643° at the point of next southern standstill on 22 July 2021 at 15:11 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 24 July 2021 at 02:37 in ♒ Aquarius 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.
