The final full moon of 2024, the Cold Moon, will light up the night sky on Sunday, December 15. The moon will rise and set at its most extreme northernly points on the horizon, the result of a once every 18.6 years phenomenon known as a major lunar standstill, according to TimeandDate.com.
What Is a Major Lunar Standstill?
A major lunar standstill occurs when the moon reaches the extremes of its orbit around Earth, the Griffith Observatory said in a statement. The moon reaches both a northernmost and southernmost position every 29 days, but from month to month the northern and southern limits of moonrise and moonset change. "Over an 18.6 year cycle, the greatest northern and southern positions of the moon extend beyond those of the sun," the Observatory said. "And just as the sun lingers at its limits at each solstice, once the moon reaches these extremes, its limits don’t seem to change."
While the sun stands still for just a few days, a major lunar standstill can last for two years. During this time, we observe the moon rising and setting at its most northerly and southerly positions on the horizon, the Observatory said.
Why Is It Called the Cold Moon?
December's full moon is referred to as the Cold Moon, which is "a Mohawk name that conveys the frigid conditions of this time of year when cold weather truly begins to grip us," the Old Farmer's Almanac says.
It is also known as the Long Night Moon because it is the closest full moon to the winter solstice, which is the longest night of the year, according to NASA. This year, the winter solstice occurs a few days after the full moon on Saturday, December 21.
How to See the Full Cold Moon
Per NASA, the Cold Moon occurs on Sunday, December 15, passing opposite the sun at 4:02 a.m. EST. While the moon will officially be full on Sunday, it will also look full on Saturday, December 14 and Monday, December 16.
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