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

Waning Crescent in Taurus

Waning Crescent on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 4% and getting smaller. The lunar cycle is 27 days old.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises after midnight to early morning and sets in the afternoon. It is visible in the early morning low to the east.

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♉ Taurus

Moon is leaving the last ∠4° of ♉ Taurus tropical zodiac sector and will enter ♊ Gemini later.

5 days after Last Quarter

Previous main lunar phase is the Last Quarter before 5 days on 3 June 2078 at 10:38.

Strawberry Moon after 16 days

Next Full Moon is the Strawberry Moon of June 2078 after 16 days on 25 June 2078 at 10:22.

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 ∠1966"

Lunar disc appears visually 3.9% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1966" and ∠1890".

Lunation 969 / 1922

The Moon is 27 days old and navigating from the second to the final part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 969 of Meeus index or 1922 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.33 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 7 hours and 53 minutes and it is 26 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. This is the year's shortest synodic month of 2078. 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 4 hours and 51 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 1 hour and 18 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠11.8°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠11.8° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠29°.

Moon at perigee

Moon is at perigee at 07:36 about 15 days since last apogee on 23 May 2078 at 17:11 in ♎ Libra the lunar orbit is going to widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth over the upcoming 11 days until point of next apogee on 20 June 2078 at 07:41 in ♏ Scorpio.

Distance to Moon 361 533 km

This perigee Moon is 361 533 km (224 646 mi) away from Earth. It is 975 km closer than the mean perigee distance, but it is still 8 823 km further than the closest perigee of 21st century.

Moon in ascending node

Moon is in ascending node in ♉ Taurus at 00:37 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 21 June 2078 at 16:55 in ♏ Scorpio.

Moon before northern standstill

10 days since the last southern standstill on 29 May 2078 at 11:05 in ♑ Capricorn when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-27.084° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠27.059° at the point of next northern standstill on 11 June 2078 at 07:53 in ♋ Cancer.

New draconic month

At 00:37 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 10 June 2078 at 01:49 in ♊ Gemini 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