Waxing
Gibbous ♉ Taurus
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Waxing Gibbous 73% illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 73% and growing larger. The 9 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
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
2 days after First Quarter
Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 2 days on 17 December 2026 at 05:43.
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises in the afternoon and sets after midnight to early morning. It is visible to the southeast in early evening and it is up for most of the night.
Moon in ♈ Aries
Moon is passing about ∠25° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1898"
Lunar disc appears visually 2.7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1898" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 4 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2026 after 4 days on 24 December 2026 at 01:28.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 24 December 2026 at 01:28
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 30 December 2026 at 18:59
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 7 January 2027 at 20:24
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 15 January 2027 at 20:34
Moderate tide
There is medium ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at very acute angle, so their combined tidal force is moderate.
Lunation 333 / 1286
The Moon is 9 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving from the first to the middle part of current synodic month. This is lunation 333 of Meeus index or 1286 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.81 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 33 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2026. It is 1 minute longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 6 hours and 48 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 14 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠159.4°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠159.4°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠184.3°.
Moon before apogee
8 days after point of apogee on 11 December 2026 at 06:46 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 4 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 24 December 2026 at 08:30 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 377 701 km
The Moon is 377 701 km (234 693 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 4 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 650 km (221 612 mi).
Moon after ascending node
4 days after ascending node on 14 December 2026 at 13:04 in ♒ Aquarius. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 7 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 27 December 2026 at 07:55 in ♌ Leo.
Draconic month
4 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♒ Aquarius, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
9 days since the previous standstill on 9 December 2026 at 15:27 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-27.602°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠27.620° at the point of next northern standstill on 23 December 2026 at 12:33 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 4 days
In 4 days on 24 December 2026 at 01:28 in ♋ Cancer 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.
