Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 56% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 56% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♓ Pisces.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 10 December 2040 at 23:30 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
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 in ♓ Pisces
Moon is leaving the last ∠3° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♈ Aries later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1940"
Lunar disc appears visually 0.5% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1940" and ∠1949".
Cold Moon after 7 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2040 after 7 days on 18 December 2040 at 12:16.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 18 December 2040 at 12:16
- Last Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 26 December 2040 at 17:02
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 2 January 2041 at 19:08
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 9 January 2041 at 10:06
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 506 / 1459
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 506 of Meeus index or 1459 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.48 days
Length of current 506 lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 35 minutes. It is 1 hour longer than next lunation 507 length.
Lunation length shorter than mean
Length of current synodic month is 1 hour and 9 minutes shorter than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 5 hours longer, compared to 21st century shortest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠323.5°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠323.5°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠342.7°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon after perigee
4 days after point of perigee on 6 December 2040 at 13:20 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting wider, while the Moon is moving outward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 11 days, until it get to the point of next apogee on 22 December 2040 at 13:29 in ♌ Leo.
Distance to Moon 369 467 km
Moon is 369 467 km (229 576 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves farther next 11 days until apogee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 405 778 km (252 139 mi).
Moon before ascending node
8 days after its descending node on 3 December 2040 at 01:02 in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is following the southern part of its orbit for the next 4 days, until it will cross the ecliptic from South to North in ascending node on 15 December 2040 at 21:13 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
22 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♉ Taurus, the Moon is moving from the second to the final part of it.
Moon after southern standstill
5 days after previous South standstill on 6 December 2040 at 01:37 in ♑ Capricorn, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-26.791°. Next 7 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠26.761° in the next northern standstill on 19 December 2040 at 10:11 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 7 days
After 7 days on 18 December 2040 at 12:16 in ♊ Gemini, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.