First
Quarter ♈ Aries
Moon phase for
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
First Quarter 53% illuminated
First Quarter is the lunar phase on . Seen from Earth, illuminated fraction of the Moon surface is 53% and growing larger. The 8 days young Moon is in ♈ Aries.
* The exact date and time of this First Quarter phase is on 21 December 2088 at 04:52 UTC.
Moon phases for next 7 days
Wednesday Wed
Thursday Thu
Friday Fri
Saturday Sat
Sunday Sun
Monday Mon
Tuesday Tue
Moon phase and lunation details
Moonrise and moonset
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight. It is visible high in the southern sky in early evening.
Moon is entering ♈ Aries
Moon is passing first ∠4° of ♈ Aries tropical zodiac sector.
Apparent angular diameter ∠1854"
Lunar disc appears visually 5.1% narrower than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1854" and ∠1951".
Cold Moon after 6 days
Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon of December 2088 after 6 days on 28 December 2088 at 00:57.
Upcoming main Moon phases
- Full Moon in Cancer ♋ on 28 December 2088 at 00:57
- Last Quarter in Libra ♎ on 3 January 2089 at 18:00
- New Moon in Capricorn ♑ on 11 January 2089 at 20:17
- First Quarter in Aries ♈ on 19 January 2089 at 19:47
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.
Lunation 1100 / 2053
The Moon is 8 days young. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the first part of current synodic month. This is lunation 1100 of Meeus index or 2053 from Brown series.
Synodic month length 29.81 days
Length of current 1100 lunation is 29 days, 19 hours and 26 minutes. This is the year's longest synodic month of 2088. It is 28 minutes longer than next lunation 1101 length.
Lunation length longer than mean
Length of current synodic month is 6 hours and 42 minutes longer than the mean length of synodic month, but it is still 21 minutes shorter, compared to 21st century longest.
Lunar orbit position on
True anomaly ∠160.8°
This lunation true anomaly is ∠160.8°. At the beginning of next synodic month true anomaly will be ∠185.7°. The length of upcoming synodic months will keep decreasing since the true anomaly gets closer to the value of New Moon at point of perigee (∠0° or ∠360°).
Moon after apogee
6 days after point of apogee on 15 December 2088 at 03:25 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting closer, while the Moon is moving inward the Earth. It will keep this direction for the next 6 days, until it get to the point of next perigee on 28 December 2088 at 06:32 in ♋ Cancer.
Distance to Moon 386 677 km
Moon is 386 677 km (240 270 mi) away from Earth on this date. Moon moves closer next 6 days until perigee, when Earth-Moon distance will reach 356 500 km (221 519 mi).
Moon before descending node
13 days after its ascending node on 8 December 2088 at 11:52 in ♎ Libra, the Moon is following the northern part of its orbit for the next day, until it will cross the ecliptic from North to South in descending node on 23 December 2088 at 02:43 in ♈ Aries.
Draconic month
13 days after beginning of current draconic month in ♎ Libra, the Moon is moving from the beginning to the first part of it.
Moon before northern standstill
8 days after previous South standstill on 13 December 2088 at 04:28 in ♐ Sagittarius, when Moon has reached southern declination of ∠-18.960°. Next 5 days the lunar orbit moves northward to face North declination of ∠18.933° in the next northern standstill on 27 December 2088 at 04:20 in ♊ Gemini.
Syzygy in 6 days
After 6 days on 28 December 2088 at 00:57 in ♋ Cancer, the Moon will be in Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and this alignment forms next Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy.