Waxing
Gibbous ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 54% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 54% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 21 December 2050 at 04:15 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Wednesday Wed
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 is entering ♈ Aries
Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1972"
Lunar disc appears visually 1.1% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1972" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2050 after 6 days on 28 December 2050 at 05:15.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 28 December 2050 at 05:15
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 5 January 2051 at 04:29
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 12 January 2051 at 18:58
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 19 January 2051 at 12:38
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 630 / 1583
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 630 of Meeus index or 1583 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.57 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 40 minutes. It is 1 hour and 57 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 56 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 7 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠282.8°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠282.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠313.4°.
Moon after perigee
1 day after point of perigee on 20 December 2050 at 16:49 in ♓ Pisces. The lunar orbit is getting widen, while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 13 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 4 January 2051 at 00:04 in ♎ Libra.
Distance to Moon 363 426 km
The Moon is 363 426 km (225 822 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 13 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 404 452 km (251 315 mi).
Moon before descending node
10 days after ascending node on 11 December 2050 at 00:42 in ♏ Scorpio. The Moon is located north of the ecliptic over the following 2 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from North to South in descending node on 24 December 2050 at 02:37 in ♉ Taurus.
Draconic month
10 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♏ Scorpio, the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
7 days since the previous standstill on 14 December 2050 at 02:00 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-19.822°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 5 days to face maximum declination of ∠19.815° at the point of next northern standstill on 27 December 2050 at 00:57 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 28 December 2050 at 05:15 in ♋ Cancer 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.
