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

Last Quarter in Cancer

Last Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 53% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 22 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 22 October 2027 at 17:29 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♋ Cancer

Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♌ Leo later.

Beaver Moon after 22 days

Next Full Moon is the Beaver Moon of November 2027 after 22 days on 14 November 2027 at 03:26.

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 ∠1968"

Lunar disc appears visually 2% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1968" and ∠1928".

Lunation 343 / 1296

The Moon is 22 days old and navigating through the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 343 of Meeus index or 1296 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.46 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 1 minute and it is 2 hours and 48 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 1 hour and 44 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 25 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠36.7°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠36.7° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠61.7°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 9 October 2027 at 15:47 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 25 October 2027 at 05:36 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 364 286 km

The Moon is 364 286 km (226 357 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 2 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 368 651 km (229 069 mi).

Moon before descending node

12 days after ascending node on 9 October 2027 at 14:58 in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following day until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 23 October 2027 at 08:15 in ♌ Leo.

Moon after northern standstill

2 days since the last northern standstill on 20 October 2027 at 01:41 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠26.793° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-26.700° at the point of next southern standstill on 2 November 2027 at 01:17 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

12 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 29 October 2027 at 13:36 in ♎ Libra the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth 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