Moon Phase: December 21, 1997

On this day the Moon was in a Last Quarter phase. This phase occurs roughly 3 weeks after the New Moon when the Moon is three quarter of the way through it’s orbit around the earth. If you live in the northern hemisphere the Moons left side will be illuminated and the right side will be dark. For those of you in the southern hemisphere it will be the opposite with the right side illuminated. Also called a Third Quarter phase, it will rise around midnight on the eastern horizon and set in the west around noon the next day. In the days following the Third Quarter Phase the Moon’s illumination will decrees each day until the New Moon.

Visit the December 1997 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Last Quarter Phase

The Last Quarter on December 21 has an illumination of 54%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On December 21 the Moon is 21.79 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

Phase Details for - December 21