Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 59% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 59% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♓ Pisces.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 9 December 2043 at 15:27 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
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 ∠1° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♈ Aries later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1902"
Lunar disc appears visually 2.4% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1902" and ∠1949".
Cold Moon after 5 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2043 after 5 days on 16 December 2043 at 08:02.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Gemini ♊ on 16 December 2043 at 08:02
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 23 December 2043 at 05:04
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 31 December 2043 at 09:48
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 8 January 2044 at 04:02
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.
Lunation 543 / 1496
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 543 of Meeus index or 1496 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.8 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 11 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2043. It is 55 minutes longer than the next lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decreasing with the 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 6 hours and 27 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 36 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠179.1°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠179.1°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠204.4°.
Moon before apogee
8 days after point of apogee on 1 December 2043 at 17:07 in ♐ Sagittarius. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 15 December 2043 at 22:01 in ♊ Gemini.
Distance to Moon 376 765 km
The Moon is 376 765 km (234 111 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 5 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 356 769 km (221 686 mi).
Moon in ascending node
Moon is in ascending node in ♓ Pisces at 06:19 crossing the ecliptic from South to North to meet descending node 12 days later on 22 December 2043 at 16:01 in ♍ Virgo.
New draconic month
At 06:19 the Moon completes the previous draconic month and enters the new one.
Moon before northern standstill
7 days since the previous standstill on 3 December 2043 at 07:43 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-28.421°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠28.409° at the point of next northern standstill on 16 December 2043 at 16:08 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 5 days
In 5 days on 16 December 2043 at 08:02 in ♊ Gemini 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.
