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

Waxing Crescent in Virgo

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 13% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 3 days 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 in ♍ Virgo

Moon is passing about ∠7° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.

3 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 3 days on 14 July 2026 at 09:43.

Buck Moon after 12 days

Next Full Moon is the Buck Moon of July 2026 after 12 days on 29 July 2026 at 14:36.

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 ∠1900"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.7% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1900" and ∠1888".

Lunation 328 / 1281

The Moon is 3 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 328 of Meeus index or 1281 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.33 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 53 minutes and it is 1 hour and 57 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 51 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 18 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠18°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠18° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠36.5°.

Moon after perigee

4 days since point of perigee on 13 July 2026 at 07:50 in ♋ Cancer 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 25 July 2026 at 16:45 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Distance to Moon 377 189 km

The Moon is 377 189 km (234 374 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 8 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 549 km (251 996 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♍ Virgo at 00:27 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 31 July 2026 at 11:54 in ♒ Aquarius.

Moon after northern standstill

4 days since the last northern standstill on 12 July 2026 at 15:18 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.033° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 8 days to face maximum declination of ∠-28.067° at the point of next southern standstill on 26 July 2026 at 03:56 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

13 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♓ Pisces the Moon is navigating from the middle to the last part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 12 days

In 12 days on 29 July 2026 at 14:36 in ♒ Aquarius 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