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
Length of current 386 lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 8 minutes. It is 1 hour and 12 minutes shorter than next lunation 387 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 24 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 6 hours and 39 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠70.3°
This New Moon true anomaly is ∠70.3°. At beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠106.4°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep increasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of apogee (∠180°).
Moon in apogee
Moon is reaching point of apogee on this date at 15:24, this is 12 days after last perigee on 17 March 2031 at 18:58 in ♑ Capricorn. Lunar orbit is starting to get closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth for 12 days ahead, until it will get to the 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 farther 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 its descending node on 27 March 2031 at 14:22 in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 11 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 10 April 2031 at 14:56 in ♏ Scorpio.
Draconic month
16 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon after northern standstill
1 day after previous North standstill on 29 March 2031 at 04:58 in ♊ Gemini, when Moon has reached northern declination of ∠21.242°. Next 12 days the lunar orbit moves southward to face South declination of ∠-21.160° in the next southern standstill on 12 April 2031 at 00:31 in ♐ Sagittarius.
Syzygy in 8 days
After 8 days on 7 April 2031 at 17:21 in ♎ Libra, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.