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

Waning Crescent in Sagittarius

Waning Crescent on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 29% and getting smaller. The lunar cycle is 24 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

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

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon is entering ♐ Sagittarius

Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 1 day on 25 January 2022 at 13:41.

Snow Moon after 20 days

Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2022 after 20 days on 16 February 2022 at 16:57.

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 ∠1968"

Lunar disc appears visually 1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1968" and ∠1948".

Lunation 272 / 1225

The Moon is 24 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 272 of Meeus index or 1225 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.47 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 13 minutes and it is 36 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increase with the lunar orbit 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 32 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 38 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠13.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠13.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠32°.

Moon before perigee

13 days since point of apogee on 14 January 2022 at 09:27 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 30 January 2022 at 07:09 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 364 256 km

The Moon is 364 256 km (226 338 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 2 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 362 250 km (225 092 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♏ Scorpio at 06:14 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 12 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 9 February 2022 at 06:12 in ♉ Taurus.

Moon before southern standstill

11 days since the last northern standstill on 16 January 2022 at 10:16 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠26.310° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠-26.369° at the point of next southern standstill on 29 January 2022 at 23:26 in ♑ Capricorn.

Draconic month

14 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♊ Gemini the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 4 days

In 4 days on 1 February 2022 at 05:46 in ♒ Aquarius 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