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

Waxing Crescent in Libra

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 30% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 5 days young.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It is visible toward the southwest in early evening.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♎ Libra

Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♎ Libra tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♏ Scorpio later.

5 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 5 days on 6 August 2051 at 15:05.

Sturgeon Moon after 9 days

Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2051 after 9 days on 22 August 2051 at 01:35.

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 ∠1768"

Lunar disc appears visually 6.9% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1768" and ∠1894".

Lunation 638 / 1591

The Moon is 5 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 638 of Meeus index or 1591 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.56 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes and it is 2 hours and 46 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increase with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).

Lunation length longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 44 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 6 hours and 19 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠104.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠104.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠137°.

Moon at apogee

Moon is at apogee at 11:22 about 15 days since last perigee on 28 July 2051 at 00:46 in ♈ Aries the lunar orbit is going to narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth over the upcoming 11 days until point of next perigee on 24 August 2051 at 08:43 in ♈ Aries.

Distance to Moon 404 639 km

This apogee Moon is 404 639 km (251 431 mi) away from Earth. It is 769 km further than the mean apogee distance, but it is still 2 070 km closer than the farthest apogee of 21st century.

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♎ Libra at 11:44 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next descending node later on 25 August 2051 at 20:56 in ♈ Aries.

Moon before southern standstill

9 days since the last northern standstill on 2 August 2051 at 19:38 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠19.057° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 4 days to face maximum declination of ∠-18.946° at the point of next southern standstill on 17 August 2051 at 06:45 in ♐ Sagittarius.

New draconic month

At 11:44 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 9 days

In 9 days on 22 August 2051 at 01:35 in ♒ Aquarius 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.

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