Waxing
Gibbous ♉ Taurus
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
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Moon phase and lunation details
4 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 4 days on 11 December 2021 at 01:36.
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 ∠14° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1783"
Lunar disc appears visually 8.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1783" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 3 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2021 after 3 days on 19 December 2021 at 04:36.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 19 December 2021 at 04:36
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 27 December 2021 at 02:24
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 2 January 2022 at 18:33
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 9 January 2022 at 18:11
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 271 / 1224
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 271 of Meeus index or 1224 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.45 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 10 hours and 50 minutes. It is 23 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 shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 1 hour and 54 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 15 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠358.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠358.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠13.9°.
Moon before perigee
11 days after point of perigee on 4 December 2021 at 10:01 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 18 December 2021 at 02:16 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 401 950 km
The Moon is 401 950 km (249 760 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 2 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 322 km (252 477 mi).
Moon before ascending node
11 days after descending node on 3 December 2021 at 14:58 in ♏ Scorpio. 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 17 December 2021 at 00:12 in ♊ Gemini.
Draconic month
25 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
9 days since the previous standstill on 6 December 2021 at 02:25 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.331°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠26.306° at the point of next northern standstill on 20 December 2021 at 04:32 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 3 days
In 3 days on 19 December 2021 at 04:36 in ♊ Gemini 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.
