Waxing
Gibbous ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 79% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 79% and growing larger. The 10 days young Moon is in ♉ Taurus.
Moon phases for next 7 days
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Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Moon phase and lunation details
2 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 2 days on 19 December 2023 at 18:39.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.
Moon in ♉ Taurus
Moon is passing about ∠5° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1926"
Lunar disc appears visually 1.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1926" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 4 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2023 after 4 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
Moderate tide
There is medium ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at very acute angle, so their combined tidal force is moderate.
Lunation 296 / 1249
The Moon is 10 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the first to the middle part of current synodic month. This is lunation 296 of Meeus index or 1249 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.52 days
Length of current 296 lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 25 minutes. It is 1 hour and 23 minutes longer than next lunation 297 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 19 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 5 hours and 50 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠303.6°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠303.6°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠328°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon after perigee
5 days after point of perigee on 16 December 2023 at 18:53 in ♒ Aquarius. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 10 days, until it get to the point of next apogee on 1 January 2024 at 15:28 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 372 088 km
Moon is 372 088 km (231 205 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next 10 days until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 404 911 km (251 600 mi).
Moon after ascending node
1 day after its ascending node on 21 December 2023 at 13:54 in ♈ Aries, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next 13 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 4 January 2024 at 18:52 in ♎ Libra.
Draconic month
1 day after beginning of current draconic month in ♈ Aries, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
8 days after previous South standstill on 13 December 2023 at 21:51 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-28.151°. Next 4 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠28.131° in the next northern standstill on 26 December 2023 at 21:50 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 4 days
After 4 days on 27 December 2023 at 00:33 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.