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

First Quarter in Gemini

First Quarter on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 60% and growing larger. The lunar cycle is 8 days young.

* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 20 February 2086 at 13:48 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.

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 ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠15° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

Snow Moon after 7 days

Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon of February 2086 after 7 days on 28 February 2086 at 12:21.

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 ∠1878"

Lunar disc appears visually 3.2% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1878" and ∠1940".

Lunation 1065 / 2018

The Moon is 8 days young and navigating through the first part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 1065 of Meeus index or 2018 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.4 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 9 hours and 37 minutes and it is 48 minutes longer 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 shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 3 hours and 7 minutes shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 3 hours and 2 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠347°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠347° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠2.3°.

Moon after perigee

6 days since point of perigee on 14 February 2086 at 16:44 in ♒ Aquarius the lunar orbit is getting widen while the Moon is moving away from the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 7 days until the Moon reaches the point of next apogee on 1 March 2086 at 10:54 in ♍ Virgo.

Distance to Moon 381 703 km

The Moon is 381 703 km (237 179 mi) away from Earth and getting further over the next 7 days until the point apogee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 406 459 km (252 562 mi).

Moon in descending node

Moon is in descending node in ♊ Gemini at 21:51 crossing the ecliptic from North to South. Lunar position remains south of if for the upcoming 15 days until Moon's next ascending node later on 8 March 2086 at 13:24 in ♐ Sagittarius.

Moon at northern standstill

At 19:36 the Moon is meeting its standstill point to reach North declination of ∠23.034°. Over the upcoming 15 days the lunar orbit is going to tilt southward to face maximum declination of ∠-22.874° at the point of next southern standstill in ♐ Sagittarius on 8 March 2086 at 14:49.

Draconic month

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

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 28 February 2086 at 12:21 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