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

First Quarter in Libra

First Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 46% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 25 July 2023 at 22:07 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♎ Libra

Moon is leaving the last ∠3° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♏ Scorpio later.

Sturgeon Moon after 7 days

Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2023 after 7 days on 1 August 2023 at 18:31.

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 ∠1827"

Lunar disc appears visually 3.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1827" and ∠1889".

Lunation 291 / 1244

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 291 of Meeus index or 1244 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.63 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 15 hours and 6 minutes and it is 56 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 2 hours and 22 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 41 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠155.7°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠155.7° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠179.2°.

Moon after apogee

5 days since point of apogee on 20 July 2023 at 06:56 in ♌ Leo the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 7 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 2 August 2023 at 05:52 in ♒ Aquarius.

Distance to Moon 392 227 km

The Moon is 392 227 km (243 719 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 7 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 311 km (222 023 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♎ Libra at 15:05 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 7 August 2023 at 02:46 in ♈ Aries.

Moon before southern standstill

9 days since the last northern standstill on 16 July 2023 at 02:40 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠27.849° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.924° at the point of next southern standstill on 30 July 2023 at 11:13 in ♑ Capricorn.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 1 August 2023 at 18:31 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.

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