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

Waning Gibbous in Libra

Waning Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 99% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 16 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the evening and sets in the morning. It is visible to the southwest and it is high in the sky after midnight.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♎ Libra

Moon is passing about ∠19° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after Full Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the Full Moon before 1 day on 25 March 2024 at 07:00.

Worm Moon before 1 day

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2024 after 28 days on 23 April 2024 at 23:49.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1781"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1781" and ∠1923".

Lunation 299 / 1252

The Moon is 16 days old and navigating from the middle to the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 299 of Meeus index or 1252 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.39 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 20 minutes and it is 19 minutes longer 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 3 hours and 24 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 45 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠1.4°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠1.4° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠17.2°.

Moon after apogee

2 days since point of apogee on 23 March 2024 at 15:44 in ♍ Virgo the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 12 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 7 April 2024 at 17:53 in ♓ Pisces.

Distance to Moon 402 518 km

The Moon is 402 518 km (250 113 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 12 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 850 km (222 979 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♎ Libra at 04:07 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 8 April 2024 at 12:20 in ♈ Aries.

Moon before southern standstill

8 days since the last northern standstill on 17 March 2024 at 14:45 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.526° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 5 days to face maximum declination of ∠-28.559° at the point of next southern standstill on 1 April 2024 at 08:58 in ♑ Capricorn.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 13 days

In 13 days on 8 April 2024 at 18:21 in ♈ Aries the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth 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