First
Quarter ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 51% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 51% and growing larger. The 7 days young Moon is in ♓ Pisces.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 18 December 2053 at 09:11 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 ∠2° of ♓ Pisces tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♈ Aries later.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1818"
Lunar disc appears visually 7% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1818" and ∠1950".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2053 after 6 days on 25 December 2053 at 09:23.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 25 December 2053 at 09:23
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 1 January 2054 at 01:11
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 8 January 2054 at 22:34
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 17 January 2054 at 02:14
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 667 / 1620
The Moon is 7 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 667 of Meeus index or 1620 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.79 days
The length of the lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 53 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2053. It is 47 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 longer than mean
The length of the current synodic month is 6 hours and 9 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 54 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠141.1°
At the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠141.1°. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠168.6°.
Moon after apogee
4 days after point of apogee on 13 December 2053 at 21:20 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 7 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 26 December 2053 at 06:40 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 394 252 km
The Moon is 394 252 km (244 977 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 7 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 358 032 km (222 471 mi).
Moon after descending node
1 day after descending node on 17 December 2053 at 00:48 in ♓ Pisces. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 11 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 29 December 2053 at 18:29 in ♍ Virgo.
Draconic month
15 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♍ Virgo, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle.
Moon before northern standstill
6 days since the previous standstill on 11 December 2053 at 12:05 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-18.771°, the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 6 days to face maximum declination of ∠18.770° at the point of next northern standstill on 25 December 2053 at 11:21 in ♋ Cancer.
Syzygy in 6 days
In 6 days on 25 December 2053 at 09:23 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.
