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

Waning Crescent in Cancer

Waning Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 4% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 27 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 ♋ Cancer

Moon is passing about ∠25° of ♋ Cancer tropical zodiac sector.

6 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 6 days on 3 August 2056 at 11:52.

Sturgeon Moon after 15 days

Next Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon of August 2056 after 15 days on 25 August 2056 at 06:00.

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.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1834"

Lunar disc appears visually 3.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1834" and ∠1893".

Lunation 699 / 1652

The Moon is 27 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 699 of Meeus index or 1652 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.48 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 28 minutes and it is 1 hour and 29 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 1 hour and 16 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 4 hours and 53 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠255.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠255.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠289.7°.

Moon after apogee

5 days since point of apogee on 3 August 2056 at 19:11 in ♉ Taurus 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 16 August 2056 at 15:34 in ♎ Libra.

Distance to Moon 390 885 km

The Moon is 390 885 km (242 885 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 7 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 369 236 km (229 433 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♋ Cancer at 05:07 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 22 August 2056 at 03:18 in ♑ Capricorn.

Moon after northern standstill

1 day since the last northern standstill on 8 August 2056 at 11:18 in ♋ Cancer when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠22.019° the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠-22.057° at the point of next southern standstill on 21 August 2056 at 11:04 in ♑ Capricorn.

New draconic month

At 05:07 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 1 day

In 1 day on 11 August 2056 at 07:48 in ♌ Leo 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