First
Quarter ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 47% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 47% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♓ Pisces.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 19 December 2023 at 18:39 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
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 ♓ Pisces
Moon is passing about ∠24° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1970"
Lunar disc appears visually 1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1970" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2023 after 7 days on 27 December 2023 at 00:33.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 27 December 2023 at 00:33
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 4 January 2024 at 03:30
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 11 January 2024 at 11:57
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 18 January 2024 at 03:53
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 296 / 1249
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 296 of Meeus index or 1249 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.52 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 25 minutes. It is 1 hour and 23 minutes longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Lunation length shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 19 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 50 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠303.6°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠303.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠328°.
Moon after perigee
2 days after point of perigee on 16 December 2023 at 18:53 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 13 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 1 January 2024 at 15:28 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 363 942 km
The Moon is 363 942 km (226 143 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 13 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 911 km (251 600 mi).
Moon before ascending node
10 days after descending node on 8 December 2023 at 15:24 in ♎ Libra. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 2 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 21 December 2023 at 13:54 in ♈ Aries.
Draconic month
25 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♈ Aries, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon after southern standstill
5 days since the previous standstill on 13 December 2023 at 21:51 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-28.151°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠28.131° at the point of next northern standstill on 26 December 2023 at 21:50 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 27 December 2023 at 00:33 in ♋ Cancer 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.
