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 phases	Dates	Time
full moon	2017-12-03	10:47
3rd quarter	2017-12-10	02:51
new moon	2017-12-18	01:30
1st quarter	2017-12-26	04:20

Apogee and perigee of the Moon

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

Position	Dates	Time	Distance	Notes
Perigee	2017-12-04	03:43	357,495 km
Apogee	2017-12-18	20:28	406,604 km	Maximum apogee in 2017!

Meteor Activity

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

Name	Peak Day
Phoenicids	2017-12-02
σ-Hydrids	2017-12-11
Geminids	2017-12-14
Dec. L. Minorids	2017-12-19
Monocerotids	2017-12-08
Comae Ber.	2017-12-15
Ursids	2017-12-22

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 Objects	Date and Time
Aldebaran	2017-12-03 08:00
Beehive	2017-12-07 04:30
Regulus	2017-12-08 17:25
Mars	2017-12-13 11:27
Jupiter	2017-12-14 09:26
Aldebaran	2017-12-30 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
w	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
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