Sky watchers witnessed an incredible astronomical event on Tuesday night, as the last full moon of the year shone on our planet, with some wonderful photos taken from coast to coast across the United States.
And the “cold moon” reached its peak illumination at 10:30 pm ET (3:30 am GMT). The moon remained in the sky for a full 15 hours until the early hours of Wednesday morning, making it the longest full-fledged lunar event of the year.
Gordon Johnston, of NASA, wrote in a recent blog: “This year’s moonlight will overlap with the annual quadruple meteor showers, which are expected to be active from December 28, 2020 to January 12, 2021, and reach their peak on the morning of January 3, 2021.”
It includes the last full moon of the year, a variety of names based on your location. It is sometimes referred to as the Full Night Moon, which indicates “that a midwinter night is really long, and because the moon is over the horizon for so long,” according to Farmer’s Calendar.
The full moon will appear until Thursday morning, and the next time the full moon appears on January 28, which is called a “wolf full moon.”