February 14 Waning Gibbous 71% |
February 15 Waning Gibbous 62% |
February 16 Last Quarter Illumination: 52% |
February 17 Waning Crescent 42% |
February 18 Waning Crescent 33% |
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 February 2009 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.
The Last Quarter on February 16 has an illumination of 52%. 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 February 16 the Moon is 21.96 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.
The current zodiac moon sign is Libra, positioned at 16.78° within the sign. The Moon entered Libra on Loading... and will shift into Scorpio on Loading.... The zodiac moon sign represents the position of the Moon as it moves through the twelve signs of the zodiac. Each zodiac moon sign lasts about 2 to 2.5 days as the Moon travels through that part of the sky.
There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.
Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com
For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society