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

Waxing Crescent in Taurus

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 1% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 1 day young.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon is entering ♉ Taurus

Moon is passing first ∠0° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 1 day on 8 April 2024 at 18:21.

Pink Moon after 14 days

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2024 after 14 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 ∠1950"

Lunar disc appears visually 1.8% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1950" and ∠1915".

Lunation 300 / 1253

The Moon is 1 day young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 300 of Meeus index or 1253 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.38 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 1 minute and it is 15 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2024. 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 43 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 26 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠17.2°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠17.2° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠36°.

Moon after perigee

1 day since point of perigee on 7 April 2024 at 17:53 in ♓ Pisces the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 10 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 20 April 2024 at 02:09 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 367 496 km

The Moon is 367 496 km (228 351 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 10 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 625 km (252 044 mi).

Moon after ascending node

1 day after ascending node on 8 April 2024 at 12:20 in ♈ Aries the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 12 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 22 April 2024 at 10:45 in ♎ Libra.

Moon before northern standstill

8 days since the last southern standstill on 1 April 2024 at 08:58 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-28.559° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠28.552° at the point of next northern standstill on 13 April 2024 at 22:36 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

1 day since the beginning of this draconic month in ♈ Aries the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 14 days

In 14 days on 23 April 2024 at 23:49 in ♎ Libra 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