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The Christmas festivities may be almost over, but there’s one last treat in store for budding skywatchers.
Be sure to keep an eye on the sky tonight as the full Cold Moon reaches its maximum illumination.
This is the last chance to see the full Moon this year and will be a great opportunity to spot some of the Moon’s geological features with the naked eye.
From the UK, the Moon will rise in the northeast at 2:52pm GMT, shortly before the Sun sets at 3:57pm later today.
The Moon will then set in the northwest at 9:07am GMT, meaning it will be in the sky all night.
The full Cold Moon will reach maximum illumination tonight shortly after midnight tonight, photographed here as seen from El Salvador.
Here the cold, full moon is seen behind the castle and village of Rocca Calascio in Calascio, Italy, in the early hours of December 27, 2023.
You may have already seen the Moon appear big and bright in the sky on Boxing Day when the full Moon first rose.
But if you were already taking a well-deserved Boxing Day nap at that point, there’s no need to worry, as tonight’s display will be even brighter.
Technically, the Moon is only “full” when it is exactly 180 degrees in front of the sun for a brief moment.
However, the Moon appears full from Earth during the two days on either side of this case.
This means that tonight will be your last chance of the year to see the full Moon.
You won’t need any special equipment to get a great view of the Moon tonight, but to get the best view try to capture the Moon at its maximum illumination.
At 00:33am GMT in the UK or 7:33pm EST in the US, the Moon will reach its maximum brightness, high in the winter constellation Orion.
Alternatively, try capturing the Moon just before or after it rises to get a great view over some local landmarks.
This will also take advantage of the ‘Moon Illusion’, an optical illusion that makes the Moon appear larger than normal when it is near the horizon.
The cold full moon rises over the San Mateo Bridge and San Francisco Bay in San Mateo, California, United States, on December 26, 2023.
Every time the full moon appears, it is assigned a nickname based on the month of the year, a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. ‘Cold Moon’ refers to the
The Moon will be 85 percent illuminated this weekend, so it will be a great opportunity to get a good view of some of the lunar features illustrated on this map.
Even with the naked eye, viewers will be able to detect the “seas” of the Moon.
These darker areas do not contain water, as early astronomers believed, but are actually planes of cooled lava large enough to be seen from Earth.
For example, tonight any stargazer should be able to easily distinguish the Mare Tranquillitatis, or sea of tranquility.
But for anyone trying out a new telescope or pair of binoculars tonight, Jessica Lee, an astronomer at Royal Greenwich Observatory, told MailOnline that the Moon is a great way to practice.
“If you’ve never used one before, the first challenge is finding something to look at through the telescope,” Ms Lee told MailOnline.
Ms Lee adds: “Try to start with something that can be easily seen with your eyes and don’t be discouraged if it takes you a while to locate it with the telescope, as it can be tricky.”
“Think about your night vision: go somewhere away from streetlights whenever possible, switch to night vision mode in any app you’re using if you have the option, and turn off torches or other light sources.”
However, if you plan to go out to observe the Moon tonight, be sure to prepare for bad weather.
If you’re heading out to look at the Moon tonight, be prepared for bad weather, with rain and wind forecast across much of the UK.
The Christmas festivities may be almost over, but there’s one last treat in store for budding skywatchers.
Make sure you are dressed appropriately and prepared for some wet conditions.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for much of the country, including Scotland, southern England, Wales and northern England.
Heavy rain and even snow is forecast in Scotland and England and temperatures are expected to drop to 39°F (4°C).
There are expected to be some breaks in the cloud cover by midnight tonight, so there will be some opportunities to get a good view of this dazzling display.
The Cold Moon first rose on Boxing Day, as it did here in Los Angeles, but tonight will be the last night to see a full Moon in 2023.
The Cold Moon, sometimes cold the Long Night Moon, gets its name from its proximity to the winter solstice.
This is often said to derive from the Mohawk Native American tribe’s traditional names for the different Moons of the year.
However, the tradition was popularized by the American Farmers Almanac and the names are chosen somewhat arbitrarily.
While the Moon will be big and bright, this is not a supermoon, the name given to the full moon during the closest point of its orbit around Earth.
Because the Moon’s orbital path is elliptical, it moves toward and away from Earth during the lunar cycle.
At its peak tonight, the Moon will be about 239,806 miles (385,930 kilometers) away from Earth.
However, a full Moon is only considered a supermoon when it is within 360,000 kilometers (223,693 miles) of Earth.
During a supermoon, when the Moon is at its closest to Earth, the Moon can appear up to 14 percent larger.
The next chance to see a supermoon will be September 18, 2024, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.