First
Quarter* ♋ Cancer
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 45% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 45% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♋ Cancer.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 31 March 2031 at 00:32 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon is entering ♋ Cancer
Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1768"
Lunar disc appears visually 8.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1921".
Pink Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2031 after 8 days on 7 April 2031 at 17:21.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- First Quarter in Cancer ♋ on 31 March 2031 at 00:32
- Full Moon in Libra ♎ on 7 April 2031 at 17:21
- Last Quarter in Capricorn ♑ on 14 April 2031 at 12:58
- New Moon in Aries ♈ on 21 April 2031 at 16:57
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.
Lunation 386 / 1339
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 386 of Meeus index or 1339 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.55 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 8 minutes. It is 1 hour and 12 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).
Lunation length longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 24 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 39 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠70.3°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠70.3°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠106.4°.
Moon at apogee
Moon is at apogee at 15:24. It is 12 days after previous perigee on 17 March 2031 at 18:58 in ♑ Capricorn. Lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the next 12 days, until point of next perigee on 11 April 2031 at 19:13 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Distance to Moon 404 227 km
This apogee Moon is 404 227 km (251 175 mi) away from Earth. This is the year's closest apogee of 2031. It is 1 181 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 176 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.
Moon after descending node
2 days after descending node on 27 March 2031 at 14:22 in ♉ Taurus. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 11 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 10 April 2031 at 14:56 in ♏ Scorpio.
Draconic month
16 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
1 day since the previous standstill on 29 March 2031 at 04:58 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠21.242°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 12 days to face maximum declination of ∠-21.160° at the point of next southern standstill on 12 April 2031 at 00:31 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 7 April 2031 at 17:21 in ♎ Libra 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.
