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

Last Quarter in Aquarius

Last Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 49% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 22 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 18 May 2036 at 08:39 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon is entering ♒ Aquarius

Moon is passing first ∠0° of ♒ Aquarius tropical zodiac sector.

Strawberry Moon after 21 days

Next Full Moon is the Strawberry Moon of June 2036 after 21 days on 8 June 2036 at 21:02.

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 ∠1778"

Lunar disc appears visually 6.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1778" and ∠1896".

Lunation 449 / 1402

The Moon is 22 days old and navigating through the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 449 of Meeus index or 1402 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.41 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 44 minutes and it is 1 hour and 51 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decrease with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).

Lunation length shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 3 hours shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 9 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠292.8°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠292.8° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠318.9°.

Moon after apogee

1 day since point of apogee on 16 May 2036 at 12:41 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 28 May 2036 at 09:17 in ♋ Cancer.

Distance to Moon 403 193 km

The Moon is 403 193 km (250 533 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 9 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 364 390 km (226 421 mi).

Moon after descending node

1 day after descending node on 17 May 2036 at 18:30 in ♒ Aquarius the Moon is positioned south of the ecliptic over the following 12 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from South to North in ascending node on 30 May 2036 at 22:23 in ♌ Leo.

Moon after southern standstill

4 days since the last southern standstill on 14 May 2036 at 05:17 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-19.758° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 9 days to face maximum declination of ∠19.831° at the point of next northern standstill on 28 May 2036 at 03:06 in ♋ Cancer.

Draconic month

14 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♌ Leo the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 25 May 2036 at 19:17 in ♉ Taurus 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