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

Waxing Crescent in Gemini

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 31% 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 ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠11° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

6 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 6 days on 16 March 2056 at 06:52.

Worm Moon after 8 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2056 after 8 days on 31 March 2056 at 10:25.

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 ∠1790"

Lunar disc appears visually 7.3% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1790" and ∠1925".

Lunation 695 / 1648

The Moon is 5 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 695 of Meeus index or 1648 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.71 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 16 hours and 58 minutes and it is 42 minutes longer than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2056. 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 4 hours and 14 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 49 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠147°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠147° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠172.8°.

Moon after apogee

2 days since point of apogee on 19 March 2056 at 13:34 in ♈ Aries the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 9 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 1 April 2056 at 03:57 in ♎ Libra.

Distance to Moon 400 444 km

The Moon is 400 444 km (248 824 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 9 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 357 689 km (222 258 mi).

Moon before ascending node

10 days after descending node on 11 March 2056 at 17:34 in ♑ Capricorn the Moon is positioned south of the ecliptic over the following 3 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from South to North in ascending node on 26 March 2056 at 07:57 in ♋ Cancer.

Moon before northern standstill

12 days since the last southern standstill on 10 March 2056 at 07:45 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-21.325° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠21.456° at the point of next northern standstill on 25 March 2056 at 00:14 in ♋ Cancer.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 8 days

In 8 days on 31 March 2056 at 10:25 in ♎ Libra 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