First Quarter on

Moon phase on 28 April 2023 Friday is First Quarter, 8 days young Moon is in Leo.

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Moon phase for

Lunar calendar 2023 | April 2023

First Quarter phase
First Quarter phase
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

First Quarter 56% illuminated

First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 56% and growing larger. The 8 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.

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Moon phases for next 7 days

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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 ♌ Leo

Moon is passing about ∠15° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1906".

Flower Moon after 7 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2023 after 7 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 8 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.

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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 at apogee

Moon is at apogee at 06:43. It is 12 days after previous perigee on 16 April 2023 at 02:22 in ♓ Pisces. Lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the next 12 days, until point of next perigee on 11 May 2023 at 04:57 in ♒ Aquarius.

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Distance to Moon 404 300 km

This apogee Moon is 404 300 km (251 220 mi) away from Earth. This is the year's closest apogee of 2023. It is 1 108 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 249 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.

Moon before descending node

8 days after ascending node on 20 April 2023 at 11:32 in ♉ Taurus. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 6 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 4 May 2023 at 21:57 in ♎ Libra.

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Draconic month

8 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.

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Moon after northern standstill

3 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 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.937° at the point of next southern standstill on 9 May 2023 at 09:01 in ♑ Capricorn.

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Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 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.

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