Clouds were prevalent for Friday night’s peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower, and the forecast calls for clouds to stick around over the next few days.
Those clouds did produce an incredible lunar halo that was widely seen in the D.C. area — and we may have a repeat Saturday night, depending on cloud cover.
Saturday’s full cold moon will rise along the Northeast horizon around 4 p.m. Eastern. It will be fully illuminated on Sunday morning at 4:02 a.m. Eastern. Oh, and that really bright “star” to the right of the moon will be the planet Jupiter.
What a sight it would be if the skies were clear and there was snow on the ground to capture all of that exquisite moonlight — a true winter wonderland would be ours to enjoy!
This last full moon of 2024 is special because a rare cycle takes place, as described by Griffith Observatory:
“Every 18.6 years, our Moon reaches the extremes of its orbit around the Earth. We observe this as the Moon rises and sets at its most northerly and southerly positions on the horizon. On the evening of December 15, we will observe the Moon rising as far to the north as it ever does. This happens during the Major Lunar Standstill.”
The famed observatory will broadcast the rising of the full cold moon on Sunday between 8:03 p.m. and 8:38 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.
If you have a landmark near where the moon rises on Sunday, take a picture or remember the location. You will see next month’s full moon rising to the left — toward the south — on the horizon, as will each consecutive full moon until the Summer Solstice in June.
While watching the sky the rest of this month, check out all five visible planets. As it gets dark after sunset, brilliant Venus is in the southwest, Saturn is high in the south and bright Jupiter is in the east while Mars rises in the east at 8 p.m. Eastern
Mercury will be in the southeast low on the horizon as it starts to get light — binoculars will be helpful finding it.
Follow Greg Redfern on Facebook, BlueSky and his daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration.
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