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Lunar Calendar Month December 2017 (United States)

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth and the fifth largest moon in the Solar System. It is the largest natural satellite in the solar system relative to the size of its planet. The following is information specific for Washington, District of Columbia, United States during December 2017.

Choose a country from the list to get relevant information:

Date and time of moon phases

The information in the following table comes from calculations published by the Astronomical Applications Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Moon phasesDatesTime
full moon2017-12-0310:47
3rd quarter2017-12-1002:51
new moon2017-12-1801:30
1st quarter2017-12-2604:20

Apogee and perigee of the Moon

The following table shows the dates of perigee and apogee of the Moon during December 2017.

PositionDatesTimeDistanceNotes
Perigee2017-12-0403:43357,495 km
Apogee2017-12-1820:28406,604 kmMaximum apogee in 2017!

Meteor Activity

Active meteor showers this month and their peak days. For more information, see the meteor shower calendar 2017.

NamePeak Day
Phoenicids2017-12-02
σ-Hydrids2017-12-11
Geminids2017-12-14
Dec. L. Minorids2017-12-19
Monocerotids2017-12-08
Comae Ber.2017-12-15
Ursids2017-12-22

Moon-Planet Conjunctions

A Moon-planet conjunction occurs when an astronomical object has either the same, or nearly the same, right ascension or the same ecliptic longitude of that of the Moon, as observed from Earth.

Astronomical ObjectsDate and Time
Aldebaran2017-12-03 08:00
Beehive2017-12-07 04:30
Regulus2017-12-08 17:25
Mars2017-12-13 11:27
Jupiter2017-12-14 09:26
Aldebaran2017-12-30 19:25

Illumination of the Moon

The following table depicts the illumination of the Moon, calculated at 00:00, throughtout the 31 days of December 2017.

December 2017
wMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
Week 48
27Monday
 
28Tuesday
 
29Wednesday
 
30Thursday
 
1Friday
 
91.4% illuminated
Age:12
2Saturday
 
96.8% illuminated
Age:13.1
3Sunday
 
99.7% illuminated
Age:14.2
Week 49
4Monday
 
99.6% illuminated
Age:15.4
5Tuesday
 
96.4% illuminated
Age:16.6
6Wednesday
 
90.5% illuminated
Age:17.7
7Thursday
 
82.4% illuminated
Age:18.8
8Friday
 
72.7% illuminated
Age:19.9
9Saturday
 
62.2% illuminated
Age:21
10Sunday
 
51.4% illuminated
Age:22
Week 50
11Monday
 
40.9% illuminated
Age:23
12Tuesday
 
31% illuminated
Age:24
13Wednesday
 
22.1% illuminated
Age:24.9
14Thursday
 
14.5% illuminated
Age:25.9
15Friday
 
8.4% illuminated
Age:26.8
16Saturday
 
3.8% illuminated
Age:27.7
17Sunday
 
1% illuminated
Age:28.6
Week 51
18Monday
 
0% illuminated
Age:29.5
19Tuesday
 
0.8% illuminated
Age:0.8
20Wednesday
 
3.3% illuminated
Age:1.7
21Thursday
 
7.5% illuminated
Age:2.6
22Friday
 
13.2% illuminated
Age:3.5
23Saturday
 
20.4% illuminated
Age:4.4
24Sunday
 
28.8% illuminated
Age:5.3
Week 52
25Monday
 
38.2% illuminated
Age:6.3
26Tuesday
 
48.3% illuminated
Age:7.2
27Wednesday
 
58.8% illuminated
Age:8.2
28Thursday
 
69.3% illuminated
Age:9.2
29Friday
 
79.2% illuminated
Age:10.3
30Saturday
 
87.8% illuminated
Age:11.4
31Sunday
 
94.5% illuminated
Age:12.5
1Monday
 
2Tuesday
 
3Wednesday
 
4Thursday
 
5Friday
 
6Saturday
 
7Sunday
 
8Monday
 
9Tuesday
 
10Wednesday
 
11Thursday
 
12Friday
 
13Saturday
 
14Sunday
 
Content last updated on 2018-10-21T17:33:00Z