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

Waning Crescent in Scorpio

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 27% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 24 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♏ Scorpio

Moon is passing about ∠7° of ♏ Scorpio tropical zodiac sector.

2 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 2 days on 28 December 2029 at 09:49.

Wolf Moon after 20 days

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2030 after 20 days on 19 January 2030 at 15:54.

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 ∠1972"

Lunar disc appears visually 1.1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1972" and ∠1951".

Lunation 370 / 1323

The Moon is 24 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 370 of Meeus index or 1323 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.5 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 57 minutes and it is 1 hour and 21 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 47 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 22 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠19.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠19.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠39.8°.

Moon before perigee

13 days since point of apogee on 16 December 2029 at 13:58 in ♉ Taurus 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 1 January 2030 at 15:33 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Distance to Moon 363 429 km

The Moon is 363 429 km (225 824 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 2 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 364 250 km (226 334 mi).

Moon before ascending node

9 days after descending node on 20 December 2029 at 15:21 in ♊ Gemini the Moon is positioned south of the ecliptic over the following 3 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from South to North in ascending node on 2 January 2030 at 20:31 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon before southern standstill

10 days since the last northern standstill on 20 December 2029 at 00:22 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠23.577° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠-23.575° at the point of next southern standstill on 2 January 2030 at 08:17 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

24 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 4 days

In 4 days on 4 January 2030 at 02:49 in ♑ Capricorn 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