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

First Quarter in Capricorn

First Quarter on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 59% and growing larger. The lunar cycle is 8 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 25 September 2028 at 13:10 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♑ Capricorn

Moon is passing about ∠15° of ♑ Capricorn tropical zodiac sector.

Hunter Moon after 7 days

Next Full Moon is the Hunter Moon of October 2028 after 7 days on 3 October 2028 at 16:25.

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 ∠1830"

Lunar disc appears visually 4.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1830" and ∠1914".

Lunation 355 / 1308

The Moon is 8 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 355 of Meeus index or 1308 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.36 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 33 minutes and it is 1 hour 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 4 hours and 11 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 58 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠2.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠2.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠18.5°.

Moon before apogee

7 days since point of perigee on 18 September 2028 at 14:23 in ♍ Virgo the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 1 October 2028 at 21:38 in ♓ Pisces.

Distance to Moon 391 627 km

The Moon is 391 627 km (243 346 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 5 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 246 km (252 430 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♑ Capricorn at 22:21 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 14 days until Moon's next descending node later on 11 October 2028 at 11:37 in ♋ Cancer.

Moon after southern standstill

1 day since the last southern standstill on 24 September 2028 at 13:21 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-25.598° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 12 days to face maximum declination of ∠25.447° at the point of next northern standstill on 9 October 2028 at 07:11 in ♊ Gemini.

New draconic month

At 22:21 in the point ot ascending node the Moon is completing the last draconic month and is entering a new one while the lunar orbit is crossing the ecliptic from South to North.

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 3 October 2028 at 16:25 in ♈ Aries 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