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

Waning Crescent in Taurus

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 34% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 23 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 ♉ Taurus

Moon is leaving the last ∠2° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♊ Gemini later.

1 day after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 1 day on 30 July 2040 at 21:06.

Sturgeon Moon after 20 days

Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2040 after 20 days on 22 August 2040 at 09:09.

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 ∠1812"

Lunar disc appears visually 4.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1812" and ∠1891".

Lunation 501 / 1454

The Moon is 23 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 501 of Meeus index or 1454 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.63 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 15 hours and 12 minutes and it is 25 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2040. 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 2 hours and 28 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 35 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠175.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠175.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠199°.

Moon before apogee

8 days since point of perigee on 23 July 2040 at 19:15 in ♑ Capricorn the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 4 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 5 August 2040 at 23:43 in ♋ Cancer.

Distance to Moon 395 505 km

The Moon is 395 505 km (245 755 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 4 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 353 km (252 496 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♉ Taurus at 17:44 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 14 days until Moon's next descending node later on 16 August 2040 at 05:30 in ♏ Scorpio.

Moon before northern standstill

9 days since the last southern standstill on 22 July 2040 at 14:28 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.179° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 3 days to face maximum declination of ∠26.211° at the point of next northern standstill on 4 August 2040 at 21:26 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 17:44 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 6 days

In 6 days on 8 August 2040 at 00:26 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