Simulated image courtesy of Tom Ruen.

Moon at First Quarter

Dominic Ford, Editor
From the Moon feed

Objects: The Moon
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The sky at

The Moon will pass first quarter phase, appearing prominent in the evening sky and setting in the middle of the night.

From Fairfield , it will be visible from soon after it rises, at 13:47, until soon before it sets at 23:56.

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At this time in its monthly cycle of phases, it appears almost exactly half illuminated.

The Moon orbits the Earth once every four weeks, causing its phases to cycle through new moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter, and back to new moon once every 29.5 days.

As it progresses through this cycle, it is visible at different times of day. At first quarter, it appears high in the sky at sunset before sinking towards the horizon and setting in the middle of the night. More information about the Moon's phases is available here.

Observing the Moon at first quarter

Over coming days, the Moon will set later each day, becoming visible for more of the night. Within a few days, it will not make it very far above the eastern horizon before nightfall. By the time it reaches full phase, it will be visible for much of the night, rising at around dusk and setting at around dawn.

Its daily progress is charted below, with all times are given in Fairfield local time.

Date Sun
sets at
Moon
sets at
Altitude of Moon
at sunset
Direction of Moon
at sunset
01 Nov 202717:4819:3613°south-west
02 Nov 202717:4720:3318°south
03 Nov 202717:4621:3422°south
04 Nov 202717:4422:3626°south
05 Nov 202717:4323:3828°south
06 Nov 202717:4200:4030°south-east
07 Nov 202716:4100:4130°south-east
08 Nov 202716:4001:4229°south-east
09 Nov 202716:3902:4326°south-east
10 Nov 202716:3803:4722°east
11 Nov 202716:3704:5418°east
12 Nov 202716:3606:0312°east

The exact moment of first quarter

The exact moment of first quarter is defined as the time when the Moon's ecliptic longitude is exactly 90° away from the Sun's ecliptic longitude, as observed from the center of the Earth. However, the Moon does not appear in any way special at this instant in time, and a first quarter moon can be observed at any time in the evening sky.

At the moment it reaches first quarter, the Moon's distance from the Earth will be 404,000 km. Its celestial coordinates will be as follows:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Angular Size
The Moon 21h02m10s 16°11'S Capricornus 29'33"

The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 6 Nov 2027

The sky on 6 November 2027
Sunrise
07:27
Sunset
17:42
Twilight ends
19:16
Twilight begins
05:52

8-day old moon
Waxing Gibbous

54%

8 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 05:51 11:27 17:03
Venus 09:26 14:07 18:48
Moon 14:07 19:20 00:40
Mars 10:11 14:45 19:20
Jupiter 02:59 09:19 15:38
Saturn 16:51 23:16 04:40
All times shown in EDT.

Source

The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.

Related news

06 Nov 2027  –  Moon at First Quarter
13 Nov 2027  –  Full Moon
20 Nov 2027  –  Moon at Last Quarter
27 Nov 2027  –  New Moon

Image credit

Simulated image courtesy of Tom Ruen.

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41.14°N
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