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

Waning Crescent in Virgo

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 25% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 24 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♍ Virgo

Moon is passing about ∠22° of ♍ Virgo tropical zodiac sector.

2 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 2 days on 12 November 2055 at 05:38.

Cold Moon after 19 days

Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2055 after 19 days on 4 December 2055 at 05:40.

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 ∠1964"

Lunar disc appears visually 1.3% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1964" and ∠1940".

Lunation 690 / 1643

The Moon is 24 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 690 of Meeus index or 1643 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.41 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 45 minutes and it is 1 hour and 56 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 2 hours and 59 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 10 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠7.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠7.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠24.3°.

Moon before perigee

12 days since point of apogee on 1 November 2055 at 20:44 in ♈ Aries the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 17 November 2055 at 09:42 in ♏ Scorpio.

Distance to Moon 364 936 km

The Moon is 364 936 km (226 761 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 2 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 360 295 km (223 877 mi).

Moon after ascending node

3 days after ascending node on 11 November 2055 at 01:13 in ♌ Leo the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 9 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 23 November 2055 at 14:19 in ♑ Capricorn.

Moon after northern standstill

5 days since the last northern standstill on 9 November 2055 at 06:27 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠21.007° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 7 days to face maximum declination of ∠-21.087° at the point of next southern standstill on 21 November 2055 at 23:06 in ♑ Capricorn.

Draconic month

3 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♌ Leo the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 4 days

In 4 days on 18 November 2055 at 20:34 in ♏ Scorpio the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth 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