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

First Quarter in Leo

First Quarter on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 50% and growing larger. The lunar cycle is 7 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 4 May 2055 at 11:10 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♌ Leo

Moon is passing about ∠14° of ♌ Leo tropical zodiac sector.

Flower Moon after 6 days

Next Full Moon is the Flower Moon of May 2055 after 6 days on 11 May 2055 at 02:31.

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 ∠1948"

Lunar disc appears visually 2.4% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1948" and ∠1903".

Lunation 684 / 1637

The Moon is 7 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 684 of Meeus index or 1637 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.57 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 13 hours and 40 minutes and it is 2 hours and 22 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to decrease with the lunar orbit 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 details for

True anomaly ∠221.6°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠221.6° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠254.3°.

Moon before perigee

11 days since point of apogee on 23 April 2055 at 01:56 in ♓ Pisces the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 4 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 8 May 2055 at 21:10 in ♎ Libra.

Distance to Moon 367 904 km

The Moon is 367 904 km (228 605 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 4 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 363 012 km (225 565 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♌ Leo at 12:19 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 12 days until Moon's next descending node later on 17 May 2055 at 07:26 in ♒ Aquarius.

Moon after northern standstill

2 days since the last northern standstill on 1 May 2055 at 22:10 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠20.193° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 10 days to face maximum declination of ∠-20.280° at the point of next southern standstill on 14 May 2055 at 15:50 in ♑ Capricorn.

New draconic month

At 12:19 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 6 days

In 6 days on 11 May 2055 at 02:31 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.

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