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
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 23 minutes. It is 2 hours and 49 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 21 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 48 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠61.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠61.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠94.5°.
Moon before perigee
11 days after point of perigee on 6 September 2026 at 20:26 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 day, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 19 September 2026 at 03:00 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Distance to Moon 405 255 km
The Moon is 405 255 km (251 814 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next day until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 217 km (251 169 mi).
Moon before ascending node
8 days after descending node on 9 September 2026 at 19:17 in ♌ Leo. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 5 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 24 September 2026 at 02:40 in ♒ Aquarius.
Draconic month
21 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon at southern standstill
At 18:54 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach South declination of ∠-28.065°. Over the next 13 days the lunar orbit is going to extend northward to face maximum declination of ∠27.989° at the point of next standstill in ♊ Gemini on 2 October 2026 at 11:35.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 26 September 2026 at 16:49 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.
