First
Quarter ♑ Capricorn
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 47% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 47% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♐ Sagittarius.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 18 September 2026 at 20:44 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
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 ♐ Sagittarius
Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♐ Sagittarius tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1769"
Lunar disc appears visually 7.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1769" and ∠1910".
Harvest Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2026 after 8 days on 26 September 2026 at 16:49.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Pisces ♓ on 26 September 2026 at 16:49
- Last Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 3 October 2026 at 13:25
- New Moon in Libra ♎ on 10 October 2026 at 15:50
- First Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 18 October 2026 at 16:13
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 330 / 1283
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 330 of Meeus index or 1283 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.52 days
Length of current 330 lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 23 minutes. It is 2 hours and 49 minutes shorter than next lunation 331 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 21 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 5 hours and 48 minutes longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠61.3°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠61.3°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠94.5°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
Moon before apogee
11 days after point of perigee on 6 September 2026 at 20:26 in ♋ Cancer. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next day, until it get to the point of next apogee on 19 September 2026 at 03:00 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Distance to Moon 405 255 km
Moon is 405 255 km (251 814 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next day until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 404 217 km (251 169 mi).
Moon before ascending node
8 days after its descending node on 9 September 2026 at 19:17 in ♌ Leo, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 5 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 24 September 2026 at 02:40 in ♒ Aquarius.
Draconic month
21 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon in southern standstill
At 18:54 on this date the Moon is meeting its South standstill point, when it will reach southern declination of ∠-28.065°. Next 13 days the lunar orbit will move in opposite northward direction to face North declination of ∠27.989° in its northern standstill point on 2 October 2026 at 11:35 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 8 days
After 8 days on 26 September 2026 at 16:49 in ♓ Pisces, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.