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

Waning Crescent in Gemini

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 26% 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 ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠21° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

2 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 2 days on 11 August 2039 at 19:36.

Harvest Moon after 19 days

Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon of September 2039 after 19 days on 2 September 2039 at 19:23.

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 ∠1768"

Lunar disc appears visually 6.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1894".

Lunation 489 / 1442

The Moon is 24 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 489 of Meeus index or 1442 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.54 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 56 minutes and it is 1 hour and 24 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 12 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 51 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠226.3°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠226.3° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠260.1°.

Moon after apogee

1 day since point of apogee on 13 August 2039 at 19:35 in ♊ Gemini the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 14 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 29 August 2039 at 03:16 in ♑ Capricorn.

Distance to Moon 405 374 km

The Moon is 405 374 km (251 888 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 14 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 368 737 km (229 123 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♊ Gemini at 10:57 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next descending node later on 28 August 2039 at 01:19 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon before northern standstill

12 days since the last southern standstill on 2 August 2039 at 07:15 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-24.732° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠24.786° at the point of next northern standstill on 16 August 2039 at 04:38 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 10:57 in the point ot ascending node the Moon is completing the last draconic month and is entering a new one while the lunar orbit is crossing the ecliptic from South to North.

Syzygy in 5 days

In 5 days on 19 August 2039 at 20:50 in ♌ Leo 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