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

Waxing Gibbous in Cancer

Waxing Gibbous on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 96% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 13 days young.

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.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing about ∠24° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

6 days after First Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the First Quarter before 6 days on 30 January 2031 at 07:43.

Snow Moon after 2 days

Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2031 after 2 days on 7 February 2031 at 12:46.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1777"

Lunar disc appears visually 9.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1777" and ∠1946".

Lunation 384 / 1337

The Moon is 13 days young and navigating from the first to the middle part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 384 of Meeus index or 1337 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.47 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 18 minutes and it is 42 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 26 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 43 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠21.6°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠21.6° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠41.9°.

Moon after apogee

2 days since point of apogee on 2 February 2031 at 23:45 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 13 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 19 February 2031 at 00:35 in ♒ Aquarius.

Distance to Moon 403 297 km

The Moon is 403 297 km (250 597 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 13 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 364 745 km (226 642 mi).

Moon after descending node

4 days after descending node on 1 February 2031 at 09:25 in ♊ Gemini the Moon is positioned south of the ecliptic over the following 9 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from South to North in ascending node on 15 February 2031 at 11:21 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon after northern standstill

2 days since the last northern standstill on 2 February 2031 at 12:52 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠21.745° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠-21.615° at the point of next southern standstill on 16 February 2031 at 13:25 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Draconic month

17 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 2 days

In 2 days on 7 February 2031 at 12:46 in ♌ Leo 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