Waxing
Gibbous ♍ Virgo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 59% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 59% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♍ Virgo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 15 May 2024 at 11:48 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 ♍ Virgo
Moon is passing about ∠7° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1773"
Lunar disc appears visually 6.8% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1773" and ∠1897".
Flower Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2024 after 7 days on 23 May 2024 at 13:53.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 23 May 2024 at 13:53
- Last Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 30 May 2024 at 17:13
- New Moon in Gemini ♊ on 6 June 2024 at 12:38
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 14 June 2024 at 05:18
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 301 / 1254
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 301 of Meeus index or 1254 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.39 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 16 minutes. It is 1 hour and 4 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the 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 28 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 41 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠36°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠36°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠60.7°.
Moon before perigee
10 days after point of perigee on 5 May 2024 at 22:11 in ♈ Aries. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 17 May 2024 at 19:00 in ♍ Virgo.
Distance to Moon 404 361 km
The Moon is 404 361 km (251 258 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 641 km (251 432 mi).
Moon before descending node
10 days after ascending node on 5 May 2024 at 21:54 in ♈ Aries. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 3 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 19 May 2024 at 16:35 in ♎ Libra.
Draconic month
10 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♈ Aries, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
5 days since the previous standstill on 11 May 2024 at 07:45 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.465°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 9 days to face maximum declination of ∠-28.401° at the point of next southern standstill on 25 May 2024 at 19:58 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 23 May 2024 at 13:53 in ♏ Scorpio 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.
