First
Quarter ♍ Virgo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 50% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 50% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♍ Virgo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 23 May 2026 at 11:11 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
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 is entering ♍ Virgo
Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1897"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1897" and ∠1895".
Flower Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2026 after 7 days on 31 May 2026 at 08:45.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Sagittarius ♐ on 31 May 2026 at 08:45
- Last Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 8 June 2026 at 10:00
- New Moon in Gemini ♊ on 15 June 2026 at 02:54
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 21 June 2026 at 21:55
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 326 / 1279
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 326 of Meeus index or 1279 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.29 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 6 hours and 53 minutes. It is 4 minutes longer 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 5 hours and 51 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 18 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠347.5°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠347.5°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠2.5°.
Moon after perigee
5 days after point of perigee on 17 May 2026 at 13:48 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 8 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 1 June 2026 at 04:32 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Distance to Moon 377 942 km
The Moon is 377 942 km (234 842 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 8 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 369 km (252 506 mi).
Moon in descending node
Moon is in descending node in ♌ Leo at 15:26 crossing the ecliptic from North to South to meet ascending node 14 days later on 7 June 2026 at 06:19 in ♓ Pisces.
Draconic month
12 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♓ Pisces, the Moon is navigating from the middle to the last part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
4 days since the previous standstill on 18 May 2026 at 19:38 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.051°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 9 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.988° at the point of next southern standstill on 1 June 2026 at 16:59 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 7 days
In 7 days on 31 May 2026 at 08:45 in ♐ Sagittarius 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.
