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

Waxing Crescent in Libra

Waxing Crescent on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 5% and growing larger. The lunar cycle is 2 days young.

Moonrise and moonset

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

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♎ Libra

Moon is passing about ∠10° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector.

2 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 2 days on 3 September 2024 at 01:55.

Harvest Moon after 12 days

Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2024 after 12 days on 18 September 2024 at 02:34.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1904".

Lunation 305 / 1258

The Moon is 2 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 305 of Meeus index or 1258 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.7 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 54 minutes and it is 1 hour and 4 minutes shorter 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 10 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 53 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠155.7°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠155.7° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠179.7°.

Moon at apogee

Moon is at apogee at 14:55 about 15 days since last perigee on 21 August 2024 at 05:05 in ♓ Pisces the lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the upcoming 13 days until point of next perigee on 18 September 2024 at 13:26 in ♓ Pisces.

Distance to Moon 406 215 km

This apogee Moon is 406 215 km (252 410 mi) away from Earth. It is 807 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 494 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♎ Libra at 05:43 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 18 September 2024 at 19:51 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon before southern standstill

8 days since the last northern standstill on 28 August 2024 at 11:09 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.606° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠-28.671° at the point of next southern standstill on 12 September 2024 at 04:51 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 12 days

In 12 days on 18 September 2024 at 02:34 in ♓ Pisces 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