The last full moon of this year is expected to peak Tuesday night and continue being visible until Thursday morning.
The so-called Cold Moon is about to reach its highest point in its long trek across the horizon. In Dallas, it will first appear at 5:05 p.m. in the northeast skies on December 26, lighting up the dark winter evening when astronomical twilight ends at 6:55 p.m.
Although the moon will set in the northwest at 7:24 a.m. the following day, it will continue to appear full until the morning of December 28.
With its name derived from the Mohawk tradition, the Cold Moon comes just after the winter solstice, the “longest” night of the year due to shortened daylight hours. This is caused by the Northern Hemisphere being tilted far away from the Sun.
With the full moon coming just after Christmas on Boxing Day, it was previously known as the Moon Before Yule by ancient pagan cultures in Europe.
Some other monikers for December’s full moon — such as the Snow Moon, Winter Maker Moon, Drift Clearing Moon, Frost Exploding Trees Moon, Moon of the Popping Trees, Hoar Frost Moon, and Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers — reflect Native Americans’ seasonal inspirations of blizzards and chilly temperatures.
The long full moon will be the last celestial event for 2023, a year graced by a special “ring of fire” solar eclipse in October, as well as the annual Perseids and Geminid meteor showers in summer and winter, respectively.
The next noteworthy celestial event will be the first full moon of 2024 — the Wolf Moon on January 25.
Yet the new year is expected to bring an especially rare spectacle to Dallas in the form of a total solar eclipse, as previously covered in The Dallas Express.
The city is directly on the path of the eclipse, which will start on the Mexican coast at about 11:07 a.m. and head northeast into the United States. Residents are encouraged to mark their calendars to avoid missing the 4-minute darkening of skies that will occur beginning at 1:40 p.m.
