First
Quarter ♌ Leo
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 ♌ Leo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 27 April 2023 at 21:20 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 is entering ♌ Leo
Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1769"
Lunar disc appears visually 7.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1769" and ∠1906".
Flower Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2023 after 8 days on 5 May 2023 at 17:34.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 5 May 2023 at 17:34
- Last Quarter in Aquarius ♒ on 12 May 2023 at 14:28
- New Moon in Taurus ♉ on 19 May 2023 at 15:53
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 27 May 2023 at 15:22
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 288 / 1241
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 288 of Meeus index or 1241 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.49 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 41 minutes. It is 1 hour and 3 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 3 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 6 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠59.2°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠59.2°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠92.6°.
Moon before perigee
11 days after point of perigee on 16 April 2023 at 02:22 in ♓ Pisces. 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 28 April 2023 at 06:43 in ♌ Leo.
Distance to Moon 405 160 km
The Moon is 405 160 km (251 755 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 300 km (251 220 mi).
Moon after ascending node
7 days after ascending node on 20 April 2023 at 11:32 in ♉ Taurus. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 7 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 4 May 2023 at 21:57 in ♎ Libra.
Draconic month
7 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
2 days since the previous standstill on 25 April 2023 at 05:53 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠27.957°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.937° at the point of next southern standstill on 9 May 2023 at 09:01 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 5 May 2023 at 17:34 in ♏ Scorpio 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.
