The Moon on this date
Moon on Sunday, December 21, 1997
Last Quarter
52.0% illuminated · waning
Shown at midday from Columbus, US.
Rise, set and path
Times for Columbus, US
- Moonrise
- –
- Highest
- 52°
- Moonset
- W
60°30°
Horizon
12:31 PM
52°
Key figures
- Illuminated
- 52.0%
- Age
- 21.6 days
- Distance
- 404,200 km
- Apparent size
- 29.6′
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Lunation number
- 927
Events on this date
-
December solstice
The shortest day in the northern hemisphere and the longest in the southern.
-
Last Quarter
Half of the disc is lit. The Moon rises around midnight and is up through the morning.
-
Apogee
The Moon's farthest point from Earth on this orbit: 404,300 km.
Exact values
For Dec 21, 12:00 PM, midday on this date.
| Elongation from the Sun | 267.88° |
|---|---|
| Phase angle | 87.72° |
| Illuminated fraction | 51.99% |
| Altitude / azimuth | 5.3° / 267.6° |
| Right ascension / declination | 11h 54m / 2.03° |
| Ecliptic longitude / latitude | 177.75° / 1.24° |
| Libration in longitude / latitude | -0.03° / -0.80° |
| Sub-solar longitude / latitude | -87.33° / 1.50° |
| Position angle of the axis | 24.9° |
| Position angle of the bright limb | 113.4° |
| Apparent magnitude | -10.1 |
Directions are good to about a hundredth of a degree and the distance to about 50 km; more digits would not mean anything.