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

Last Quarter in Capricorn

Last Quarter on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 53% and getting smaller. Lunar cycle is 21 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 26 March 2068 at 18:20 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon is entering ♑ Capricorn

Moon is passing first ∠3° of ♑ Capricorn tropical zodiac sector.

Pink Moon after 22 days

Next Full Moon is the Pink Moon of April 2068 after 22 days on 17 April 2068 at 15:29.

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 ∠1911"

Lunar disc appears visually 0.6% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1911" and ∠1923".

Lunation 843 / 1796

The Moon is 21 days old and navigating through the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 843 of Meeus index or 1796 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.38 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 14 minutes and it is 2 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2068. 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 3 hours and 30 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 39 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠3.9°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠3.9° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠19.9°.

Moon before perigee

9 days since point of apogee on 16 March 2068 at 22:03 in ♌ Leo the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 5 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 1 April 2068 at 04:33 in ♓ Pisces.

Distance to Moon 375 039 km

The Moon is 375 039 km (233 038 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 5 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 359 256 km (223 231 mi).

Moon after ascending node

2 days after ascending node on 24 March 2068 at 05:33 in ♐ Sagittarius the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 10 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 5 April 2068 at 19:21 in ♉ Taurus.

Moon after southern standstill

1 day since the last southern standstill on 25 March 2068 at 09:16 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-21.636° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 11 days to face maximum declination of ∠21.553° at the point of next northern standstill on 6 April 2068 at 22:58 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

2 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♐ Sagittarius the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 6 days

In 6 days on 2 April 2068 at 08:51 in ♈ Aries 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