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

Waxing Crescent in Capricorn

Waxing Crescent on . Illuminated surface of the Moon is 1% and growing larger. Lunar cycle is 1 day 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 ♑ Capricorn

Moon is passing about ∠12° of ♑ Capricorn tropical zodiac sector.

1 day after New Moon

Previous main lunar phase is the New Moon before 1 day on 21 December 2071 at 11:47.

Wolf Moon after 14 days

Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon of January 2072 after 14 days on 5 January 2072 at 18:13.

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 ∠1781"

Lunar disc appears visually 9.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1781" and ∠1951".

Lunation 890 / 1843

The Moon is 1 day young and navigating from the beginning to the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 890 of Meeus index or 1843 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.78 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 18 hours and 48 minutes and it is 41 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 longer than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 6 hours and 4 minutes longer than the mean synodic month length. It is 59 minutes shorter compared to 21st century's longest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠138.1°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠138.1° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠166.3°.

Moon before apogee

13 days since point of perigee on 9 December 2071 at 10:47 in ♋ Cancer the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 2 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 25 December 2071 at 10:25 in ♒ Aquarius.

Distance to Moon 402 389 km

The Moon is 402 389 km (250 033 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 2 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 405 839 km (252 177 mi).

Moon before descending node

8 days after ascending node on 14 December 2071 at 01:42 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 5 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 28 December 2071 at 08:59 in ♓ Pisces.

Moon after southern standstill

1 day since the last southern standstill on 21 December 2071 at 16:34 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-18.491° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 13 days to face maximum declination of ∠18.460° at the point of next northern standstill on 4 January 2072 at 21:58 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

8 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♍ Virgo the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 14 days

In 14 days on 5 January 2072 at 18:13 in ♋ Cancer 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