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

Waxing Crescent in Aries

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 13% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 3 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 ♈ Aries

Moon is passing about ∠18° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.

3 days after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 3 days on 20 February 2061 at 05:31.

Worm Moon after 10 days

Next Full Moon is the Worm Moon of March 2061 after 10 days on 6 March 2061 at 05:54.

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 ∠1955"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.9% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1955" and ∠1939".

Lunation 756 / 1709

The Moon is 3 days young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 756 of Meeus index or 1709 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.49 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 11 hours and 52 minutes and it is 2 hours and 10 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 52 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 5 hours and 17 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠299.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠299.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠324.8°.

Moon before perigee

11 days since point of apogee on 12 February 2061 at 05:47 in ♏ Scorpio the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next day until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 24 February 2061 at 09:19 in ♉ Taurus.

Distance to Moon 366 570 km

The Moon is 366 570 km (227 776 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next day until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 368 440 km (228 938 mi).

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♈ Aries at 16:18 crossing the ecliptic from South to North. Lunar position remains north of if for the upcoming 13 days until Moon's next descending node later on 8 March 2061 at 23:14 in ♎ Libra.

Moon before northern standstill

7 days since the last southern standstill on 15 February 2061 at 18:38 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-28.209° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 5 days to face maximum declination of ∠28.299° at the point of next northern standstill on 28 February 2061 at 20:22 in ♊ Gemini.

New draconic month

At 16:18 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 10 days

In 10 days on 6 March 2061 at 05:54 in ♍ Virgo 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