First
Quarter ♍ Virgo
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 46% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 46% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♌ Leo.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 15 May 2043 at 21:05 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
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 ♌ Leo
Moon is passing about ∠20° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1868"
Lunar disc appears visually 1.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1868" and ∠1898".
Flower Moon after 8 days
Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2043 after 8 days on 23 May 2043 at 23:37.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Scorpio ♏ on 23 May 2043 at 23:37
- Last Quarter in Pisces ♓ on 31 May 2043 at 19:25
- New Moon in Gemini ♊ on 7 June 2043 at 10:35
- First Quarter in Virgo ♍ on 14 June 2043 at 10:19
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 536 / 1489
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 536 of Meeus index or 1489 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.3 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 14 minutes. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2043. It is 2 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).
Lunation length shorter than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 5 hours and 30 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 39 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠0.5°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠0.5°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠15.9°.
Moon after perigee
6 days after point of perigee on 9 May 2043 at 02:32 in ♉ Taurus. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 7 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 22 May 2043 at 14:46 in ♏ Scorpio.
Distance to Moon 383 791 km
The Moon is 383 791 km (238 477 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 7 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 276 km (252 448 mi).
Moon before descending node
9 days after ascending node on 6 May 2043 at 11:10 in ♈ Aries. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 3 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 19 May 2043 at 08:03 in ♎ Libra.
Draconic month
9 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♈ Aries, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon after northern standstill
3 days since the previous standstill on 12 May 2043 at 00:03 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠28.531°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-28.459° at the point of next southern standstill on 26 May 2043 at 08:52 in ♑ Capricorn.
Syzygy in 8 days
In 8 days on 23 May 2043 at 23:37 in ♏ Scorpio the Moon is going to be in a Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy alignment.
