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SkywatchingHome The Next Full Moon is the Cold… Skywatching Skywatching Home What’s Up Eclipses Explore the Night Sky Night Sky Network MoreTips and Guides FAQ 31 Min Read The Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon
A full Moon rising over the Wasatch Mountains in Utah on March 15, 2014. Credits: NASA/Bill Dunford The Next Full Moon is the Cold Moon, Frost Moon, or the Winter Moon; the Moon before Yule or the Oak Moon; the Long Night Moon; the Child Moon; the Datta or Dattatreya Jayanti Festival Moon; the Karthika Deepam Festival Moon; Unduvap Poya; and the Chang’e Moon.
The next full Moon will be Sunday morning, Dec. 15, 2024, passing opposite the Sun at 4:02 a.m. EST. This will be Saturday evening from Alaska Time westwards to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Friday evening through Monday morning, making this a full Moon weekend.
The Maine Farmers’ Almanac began publishing Native American names for full Moons in the 1930s. Over time these names have become widely known and used. According to this almanac, as the full Moon in December this is the Cold Moon, due to the long, cold nights. Other names are the Frost Moon (for the frosts as winter nears) or the Winter Moon.
As the full Moon before the winter solstice, old European names for this Moon include the Moon before Yule and the Oak Moon. Yule was a three-day winter solstice festival in pre-Christian Europe. In the 10th century King Haakon I associated Yule with Christmas as part of the Christianization of Norway, and this association spread throughout Europe. Some believe that the Oak Moon name ties back to ancient druid traditions of harvesting mistletoe from oak trees, a practice first recorded by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder in the first century CE. The term “druid” may derive from the Proto-Indo-European roots for “oak” and “to see,” suggesting “druid” means “oak knower” or “oak seer.”
As the full Moon closest to the winter solstice, this will be the Long Night Moon. The plane of the Moon’s orbit around Earth nearly matches the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. When the path of the Sun appears lowest in the sky for the year, the path of the full Moon opposite the Sun appears near its highest. For the Washington, D.C. area, on Saturday evening into Sunday morning, December 14 to 15, the Moon will be in the sky for a total of 16 hours 1 minute and will reach a maximum altitude of 79.0 degrees (at 11:52 p.m. EST), with 14 hours 33 minutes of this when the Sun is down. The next night, Sunday evening into Monday morning, December 15 to 16, the full Moon will be in the sky slightly longer and will reach higher in the sky, but slightly less of this time will be when the Sun is down. The Moon will be in the sky for a total of 16 hours 3 minutes and will reach a maximum altitude of 79.2 degrees (at 1:54 a.m.), with 14 hours 29 minutes of this when the Sun is down.
This also is the Child Moon. Five years ago, then 7-year-old Astrid Hattenbach was walking home from school with her father Henry Throop (a friend and former coworker at NASA Headquarters). When she saw the rising full Moon, she said: “You know what this Moon is called? It’s called a Child Moon. Because the Moon rises at a time that the children, they can see it, because they’re not in bed, and they might even be outside like we are right now.” Henry told me about this and I thought it a perfect name. This year (at least for Washington, D.C. and similar latitudes), the earliest evenings with a full Moon in the sky will be on December 13 through 15, with sunset at 4:44 p.m. EST and evening twilight ending at 5:50 p.m. (on the 13th) or 5:51 p.m. (on the 14th and 15th). For more on the wonder the Moon imbues in the hearts of children (and in all of us) look up Carl Sandburg’s poem “Child Moon.”
For Hindus, this full Moon corresponds with Datta Jayanti, also known as Dattatreya Jayanti, a festival commemorating the birth day of the Hindu god Dattatreya (Datta), celebrated on the full Moon day of the month of Margashira.
Karthika Deepam is a festival observed by Hindus of Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, and Kerala when the nearly full Moon lines up with the Pleiades constellation (Krittikai or Karttikai). This year it will be on Friday, December 13. Some areas celebrate multi-day festivals that include this full Moon.
For the Buddhists of Sri Lanka, this is Unduvap Poya. In the third century BCE, Sangamitta Theri, the daughter of Emperor Ashoka and founder of an order of Buddhist nuns in Sri Lanka, is believed to have brought a sapling of the sacred Bodhi Tree, or Bo Tree, to Sri Lanka. The sapling was planted in 288 BCE by King Devanampiya Tissa in the Mahamevnāwa Park in Anuradhapura where it still grows today, where it is believed by some to be the oldest living human-planted tree with a known planting date.
We could also call this the Chang’e Moon, after the three Chinese lunar landers that launched and landed on the Moon this time of year. These missions get their name from the Chinese goddess of the Moon, Chang’e, who lived on the Moon with her pet rabbit, Yutu. The Chang’e 3 lander and its companion Yutu rover launched on Dec. 1, 2013, and landed on the Moon a few days later on December 14. The Chang’e 4 lander and Yutu-2 rover launched Dec. 7, 2018, and landed on the Moon on Jan. 3, 2019. The Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission was launched in 2020 on November 23 (in UTC, November 24 in China’s time zone), collected samples from the Moon, and returned them to Earth on Dec. 16, 2020, humanity’s first lunar sample return since 1976. The Chang’e 6 lunar sample return mission ended the “streak” of December missions by launching on May 3, collecting samples from the Moon, and returning them to Earth on June 25, 2024, humanity’s first lunar sample return from the far side of the Moon.
In many traditional Moon-based calendars the full Moons fall on or near the middle of each month. This full Moon is near the middle of the eleventh month of the Chinese year of the Dragon and Jumādā ath-Thāniyah, also known as Jumādā al-ʾĀkhirah, the sixth month of the Islamic year. This full Moon is the middle of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar. Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev (starting this year with sundown on December 25) and ends 8 days later (with sundown on January 2).
As usual, the wearing of suitably celebratory celestial attire is encouraged in honor of the full Moon. Bundle up for the cold, then take advantage of these early nightfalls to admire the sky, Moon, planets, and stars!
Here are other celestial events between now and the full Moon after next with specific times and angles based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.:
For the Northern Hemisphere, as autumn ends and winter begins, the daily periods of sunlight reach their shortest at the winter solstice and then begin to lengthen again. Our 24-hour clock is based on the average length of the solar day. The winter solstice has the longest night of the year. The winter solstice is sometimes called the “shortest day of the year” (because it has the shortest period of sunlight), but the solar days near the solstice are actually the longest. Because of this, the earliest sunset of the year occurs before the solstice (on December 6 and 7 for the Washington, D.C. area) and the latest sunrise of the year (ignoring Daylight Savings Time) occurs after the solstice on Jan. 4, 2025.
On Sunday, December 15, (the day of the full Moon), morning twilight will begin at 6:16 a.m. EST, sunrise will be at 7:20 a.m., solar noon will be at 12:04 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 27.8 degrees, sunset will be at 4:47 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 5:51 p.m.
Saturday, December 21, will be the day of the Northern Hemisphere winter solstice, the astronomical end of fall and start of winter. The winter solstice is the day when the Sun at solar noon is lowest in the sky and the time from sunrise to sunset is shortest for the year. At NASA Headquarters, the time from sunrise to sunset will be 9 hours, 26 minutes, 13 seconds. Solar noon will be at 12:07 p.m. EST when the Sun will reach its lowest daily high, 27.7 degrees. The longest solar day (measured from noon to noon on a sundial) will be from solar noon on December 21 to solar noon on December 22, 29.8 seconds longer than 24 hours.
By Monday, Jan. 13, 2025 (the day of the full Moon after next), morning twilight will begin at 6:24 a.m. EST, sunrise will be at 7:26 a.m., solar noon will be at 12:17 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 29.8 degrees, sunset will be at 5:08 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 6:11 p.m.
This will still be a good time for Jupiter and Saturn watching, especially with a backyard telescope. Saturn was at its closest and brightest on September 7 and Jupiter on December 7. With clear skies and a telescope, you should be able to see Jupiter’s four bright moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io, noticeably shifting positions in the course of an evening. For Saturn, you should be able to see Saturn’s rings and its bright moon Titan. The rings are appearing thinner and will be edge-on to Earth in March 2025. We won’t get the “classic” view of Saturn showing off its rings until 2026. During this lunar cycle both of these planets will be shifting towards the west, making them easier to see earlier in the evening sky (and friendlier for backyard stargazing, especially if you have young ones with earlier bedtimes). During this lunar cycle, as twilight ends each evening, Saturn will be shifting from 43 degrees above the southern horizon to 33 degrees above the southwestern horizon while Jupiter will be shifting from 19 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon to 47 degrees above the eastern horizon.
Comets
Sungrazing comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was discovered in April 2024. It will be passing very near the Sun and might be bright enough to see in the daytime for a short time around its closest approach to the Sun on January 13. The Southern Hemisphere will have the best viewing before and after closest approach (probably requiring binoculars or a telescope), while the Northern Hemisphere will have the best viewing near closest approach. Most likely, this comet will break up and vanish from view as it approaches the Sun like comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) did in October. There is only a slight chance that it might survive long enough to be visible near its closest approach. In addition, its visual magnitude might not be bright enough to see in the glow of the nearby Sun.
For the Washington, D.C. area, assuming this comet follows its current brightness curve and doesn’t disintegrate, it should be at its brightest the evening of January 12 just before it sets on the southwestern horizon. It will be about 5 degrees to the upper right of the setting Sun. If the horizon is very clear, your best chance of seeing this comet might be after sunset at 5:07 p.m. EST, but before the comet sets about 10 minutes later.
Meteor Showers
Three meteor showers, the Comae Berenicids (020 COM), the Ursids (015 URS), and the Quadrantids (010 QUA), are expected to peak during this lunar cycle. The Comae Berenicids are a weak but long-lasting shower that will be adding slightly to the background rate of meteors. Under ideal conditions near its peak on December 16 it can produce about 3 visible meteors per hour, but this year moonlight will interfere.
The Ursids are expected to peak on the morning of December 22. The MeteorActive app predicts that under bright suburban conditions this shower will only add 1 or 2 meteors per hour to the background rate. On rare occasions this shower can produce major outbursts, as it did in 1945 and 1986 (other outbursts may have been missed due to weather). The International Meteor Organization reports this shower is poorly observed with a narrow peak that seems to fluctuate each year. The radiant for this shower (the point the meteors appear to radiate out from) is high in the northern sky, so this shower can be seen all night from most of the Northern Hemisphere but is not visible from the Southern Hemisphere. This year the Moon will be near its last quarter so the best time to look should be the evenings of December 21 and December 22, between when the sky is completely dark and moonrise. These meteors are caused by debris from the comet 8P/Tuttle entering Earth’s atmosphere at 74,000 mph (33 kilometers per second).
The Quadrantids will be active from Dec. 28, 2024 to Jan. 12, 2025. While this is one of the three major annual Northern Hemisphere showers, its narrow peak means it can be difficult to see. This shower radiates out from a point that passes directly over 49 degrees north. It is predicted to have a peak about 4 hours wide centered around 10 a.m. EST on January 3 (when we can’t see them from the Washington, D.C. area). For the D.C. area the MeteorActive app predicts that at about 6 a.m. on the morning of January 3, under bright suburban sky conditions, the peak visible rate from the Quadrantids and all other background sources might reach 14 meteors per hour. Going to a nearby dark sky area (like Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia) might get these rates up to about 34 meteors per hour. Viewing should be better farther west (where the sky will be dark closer to the peak), with the peak viewing probably somewhere in the northern Pacific Ocean. These meteors are caused by debris entering Earth’s atmosphere at 92,000 mph (41 kilometers per second). The source of the debris is uncertain but might be the minor planet 2003 EH1, which in turn may be related to the comet C/1490 Y1 observed by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean astronomers in 1490.
If you do go out looking for these meteors, be sure to give your eyes plenty of time to adapt to the dark. Your color-sensing cone cells are concentrated near the center of your view with the more sensitive rod cells on the edge of your view. Since some meteors are faint, you will tend to see more meteors from the “corner of your eye” (which is why you need to view a large part of the sky). Your color vision (cone cells) will adapt to darkness in about 10 minutes, but your night vision rod cells will continue to improve for an hour or more (with most of the improvement in the first 35 to 45 minutes). The more sensitive your eyes are, the more chance you have of seeing meteors. Even a short exposure to light (from passing car headlights, etc.) will start the adaptation over again (so no turning on a light or your cell phone to check what time it is).
Evening Sky Highlights
On the evening of Saturday, December 14 (the start of the night of the full Moon), as twilight ends (at 5:50 p.m. EST), the rising Moon will be 19 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon with bright planet Jupiter 6 degrees to the right and the bright star Aldebaran father to the right. The brightest planet visible will be Venus at 21 degrees above the southwestern horizon. Next in brightness will be Jupiter. Saturn will be 43 degrees above the southern horizon. The bright star closest to overhead will be Deneb at 61 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon. Deneb (visual magnitude 1.3) is the 19th brightest star in our night sky and is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the swan. It is one of the three bright stars of the “Summer Triangle” (along with Vega and Altair). Deneb is about 20 times more massive than our Sun but has used up its hydrogen, becoming a blue-white supergiant about 200 times the diameter of the Sun. If Deneb were where our Sun is, it would extend to about the orbit of Earth. Deneb is about 2,600 light years from us.
As this lunar cycle progresses, Jupiter, Saturn and the background of stars will appear to rotate westward around Polaris the pole star each evening (as Earth moves around the Sun). Bright Venus will shift to the left and higher in the sky along the southwestern horizon towards Saturn. January 4 will be the first evening Mars will be above the horizon as twilight ends. The waxing Moon will pass by Venus on January 3, Saturn on January 4, in front of the Pleiades star cluster on January 9, and Jupiter on January 10. On January 12 there is a very slight chance that the sungrazing comet, C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) (discovered in April 2024) might be visible 5 degrees to the upper right of the setting Sun.
By the evening of Monday, Jan. 13, 2025 (the evening of the full Moon after next), as twilight ends (at 6:11 P.M. EST), the rising Moon will be 13 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon with the bright planet Mars (the third brightest planet) 2 degrees to the lower left and the bright star Pollux (the brighter of the twin stars in the constellation Gemini the twins) 3 degrees to the upper left of the Moon. The brightest planet visible will be Venus at 29 degrees above the southwestern horizon, with the planet Saturn (fourth brightest) 6 degrees to the upper left of Venus. The second brightest planet, Jupiter, will be 47 degrees above the eastern horizon. The bright star closest to overhead will be Capella at 50 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon. Capella is the 6th brightest star in our night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the charioteer. Although we see Capella as a single star it is actually four stars (two pairs of stars orbiting each other). Capella is about 43 light-years from us.
Morning Sky Highlights
On the morning of Sunday, December 15 (the morning of the full Moon), as twilight begins (at 6:16 AM EST), the setting full Moon will be 15 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon. The brightest planet in the sky will be Jupiter, appearing below the Moon at 5 degrees above the horizon. Second in brightness will be Mars at 46 degrees above the western horizon, then Mercury at 4 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon. The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Regulus at 55 degrees above the southwestern horizon, with Arcturus a close second at 52 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon. Regulus is the 21st brightest star in our night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Leo the lion. The Arabic name for Regulus translates as “the heart of the lion.” Although we see Regulus as a single star, it is actually four stars (two pairs of stars orbiting each other). Regulus is about 79 light years from us. Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes the herdsman or plowman and the 4th brightest star in our night sky. It is 36.7 light years from us. While it has about the same mass as our Sun, it is about 2.6 billion years older and has used up its core hydrogen, becoming a red giant 25 times the size and 170 times the brightness of our Sun. One way to identify Arcturus in the night sky is to start at the Big Dipper, then follow the arc of the dipper’s handle as it “arcs towards Arcturus.”
As this lunar cycle progresses, Jupiter, Mars, and the background of stars will appear to rotate westward around Polaris the pole star each morning. Mercury too will appear to shift in the same general direction until December 23, after which it will start shifting towards the horizon again. After December 20 Jupiter will no longer be above the horizon as twilight begins. The waning Moon will pass by Pollux on December 17, Mars on December 18, Regulus on December 20, Spica on December 24, and Antares on December 28. Around 6 a.m. on January 3 will likely be the best time to look for the Quadrantids meteor shower. Under suburban conditions it might produce 14 visible meteors per hour.
By the morning of Monday, Jan. 13, 2025 (the morning of the full Moon after next), as twilight begins at 6:23 a.m. EST, the setting full Moon will be 11 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon. This will be the first morning the planet Mercury will rise after morning twilight begins (although it will be bright enough to see in the glow of dawn after it rises) leaving Mars at 18 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon the only planet in the sky. The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Arcturus at 69 degrees above the south-southeastern horizon.
Detailed Daily Guide
Here is a day-by-day listing of celestial events between now and the full Moon on Jan. 13, 2025. The times and angles are based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and some of these details may differ for where you are (I use parentheses to indicate times specific to the D.C. area). If your latitude is significantly different than 39 degrees north (and especially for my Southern Hemisphere readers), I recommend using an astronomy app set for your location or a star-watching guide from a local observatory, news outlet, or astronomy club.
Thursday morning, December 12 The first morning the planet Mercury will be above the east-southeastern horizon as morning twilight begins (at 6:14 a.m. EST). Also, on Thursday morning at 8:28 a.m., the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to Earth for this orbit.
Friday evening into Saturday morning, December 13 to 14 The Pleiades star cluster will appear near the full Moon. This may best be viewed with binoculars, as the brightness of the full Moon may make it hard to see the stars in this star cluster. As evening twilight ends at 5:50 p.m. EST, the Pleiades will appear 4 degrees to the upper right of the full Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 10:49 p.m., the Pleiades will be 6 degrees to the right. By about 2 a.m. the Pleiades will be 8 degrees to the lower right of the Moon, and it will continue to separate as the morning progresses.
As mentioned last month, one of the three major meteor showers of the year, the Geminids (004 GEM), will peak Saturday morning, December 14. The light of the nearly full Moon will interfere. In a good year, this shower can produce 150 visible meteors per hour under ideal conditions, but this will not be a good year. For the Washington, D.C. area the MeteorActive app predicts that at about 2 a.m. EST, under bright suburban sky conditions, the peak rate from the Geminids and all other background sources might reach 20 meteors per hour. See the meteor summary above for suggestions for meteor viewing.
Saturday morning, December 14 The full Moon, the bright planet Jupiter, and the bright star Aldebaran will form a triangle. As Aldebaran sets on the west-northwestern horizon at 6:10 a.m. EST it will be 9 degrees to the lower left of the Moon with Jupiter 7 degrees to the upper left. Morning twilight will begin 6 minutes later.
Saturday evening, December 14 The full Moon will have shifted to the other side of Jupiter. Jupiter will be 6 degrees to the right of the Moon as evening twilight ends at 5:50 p.m EST and the pair will separate as the night progresses.
Sunday morning, December 15, the next full Moon will be at 4:02 a.m. EST This will be Saturday evening from Alaska Time westwards to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Friday evening through Monday morning, making this a full Moon weekend.
Monday evening into Tuesday morning, December 16 to 17 The bright star Pollux will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. As Pollux rises above the northeastern horizon at 6:25 p.m. EST, it will be 7 degrees to the lower left of the Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 1:55 a.m. Pollux will be 4 degrees to the upper left. As morning twilight begins at 6:18 a.m., Pollux will be 3 degrees to the upper right.
Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, December 17 to 18 The bright planet Mars, about a month away from its brightest for the year, will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. As Mars rises on the east-northeastern horizon at 7:34 p.m. EST it will be 4 degrees to the lower left of the Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 2:50 a.m., Mars will be 1 degree to the lower left. When Mars is closest to the Moon a little before 5:00 a.m., it will be a quarter of a degree from the center of the Moon or an eighth of a degree from the edge of the Moon. As morning twilight begins at 6:18 a.m., Mars will be a degree to the lower right of the Moon. The far north of North America and Asia will see the Moon pass in front of Mars. Note that for some areas this occultation will occur during the daytime.
Thursday night into Friday morning, December 19 to 20 The bright star Regulus will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. As Regulus rises on the east-northeastern horizon at 9:39 p.m. EST it will be 3 degrees to the lower right of the Moon. As the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 4:26 a.m., Regulus will be 2 degrees to the lower right. Regulus will be 2.5 degrees to the lower right as morning twilight begins at 6:19 a.m.
Thursday morning, December 20 This will be the last morning the bright planet Jupiter will be above the west-northwestern horizon as morning twilight begins.
Saturday morning, December 21 at 4:20 a.m. EST This is the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere, the astronomical end of fall and start of winter. Europeans have used two main ways to divide the year into seasons and define winter. The old Celtic calendar used in much of pre-Christian Europe considered winter to be the quarter of the year with the shortest periods of daylight and the longest periods of night, so that winter started around Halloween and ended around Groundhog Day, hence the origin of these traditions. However, since it takes time for our planet to cool off, the quarter year with the coldest average temperatures starts later than the quarter year with the shortest days. In our modern calendar we approximate this by having winter start on the winter solstice and end on the spring equinox. The last time I checked NOAA data sources, for the Washington, D.C. area at least, the quarter year with the coldest average temperatures started the first week of December and ended the first week of March.
Worldwide, many festivals are associated with the winter solstice, including Yule and the Chinese Dongzhi Festival.
The solar day from solar noon on Saturday, December 21 to solar noon on Sunday, December 22 will be the longest solar day of the year, 29.8 seconds longer than 24 hours.
Sunday morning, December 22 For the Washington, D.C. area, under bright suburban conditions, the MeteorActive app predicts that at about 5:30 a.m. EST the peak rate from the Ursids and all other background sources might reach 5 meteors per hour (with most of these background meteors).
Sunday evening, December 22 The waning Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its last quarter at 5:18 p.m. EST.
Monday morning, December 23 This will be when the planet Mercury will appear at its highest above the east-southeastern horizon (7 degrees) as morning twilight begins at 6:21 a.m. EST. The bright star about 7 degrees to the lower right of Mercury will be Antares.
Early Tuesday morning, December 24, at 2:27 a.m. EST The Moon will be at apogee, its farthest from Earth for this orbit.
Also on Tuesday morning, December 24 The bright star Spica will appear near the waning crescent Moon. As Spica rises on the east-southeastern horizon at 1:55 a.m. EST, it will be 6 degrees below the Moon. As morning twilight begins 3.5 hours later at 6:21 a.m., Spica will be 4 degrees to the lower left. For parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean the Moon will pass in front of Spica.
Tuesday night, December 24 This will be when the planet Mercury reaches its greatest angular separation from the Sun as seen from Earth for this apparition (called greatest elongation). Because the angle between the line from the Sun to Mercury and the line of the horizon changes with the seasons, the date when Mercury and the Sun appear farthest apart as seen from Earth is not always the same as when Mercury appears highest above the east-southeastern horizon as morning twilight begins, which will occur on December 23.
Wednesday morning, December 25 The Moon will have shifted to the other side of Spica. As the Moon rises on the east-southeastern horizon at 2:23 a.m. EST, Spica will be 7 degrees to the upper right of the Moon, and the pair will separate as the morning progresses.
Saturday morning, December 28 The bright star Antares will be 1.5 degrees to the lower left of the waning crescent Moon, with Mercury about 10 degrees to the left of the Moon. The Moon will rise first above the southeastern horizon at 5:32 a.m. EST, followed by Antares 8 minutes later and Mercury 5 minutes after that at 5:45 a.m. As morning twilight begins less than an hour later at 6:23 a.m., the Moon will be 7 degrees above the southeastern horizon. For an area in the mid-Pacific the Moon will block Antares while the sky is dark. Note that for most of the area in the Atlantic, South America, and the Pacific, this occultation will occur in the daytime and only be visible with binoculars or a telescope.
Monday afternoon, December 30, at 5:27 p.m. EST This will be the new Moon, when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, and it will not be visible from PEarth. The day of, or the day after, the New Moon marks the start of the new month for most lunisolar calendars. The 12th month of the Chinese calendar starts on December 31. Sundown on Tuesday, December 31, will mark the start of Tevet and the start of the seventh day of Hanukkah in the Hebrew calendar.
In the Islamic calendar, the months traditionally start with the first sighting of the waxing crescent Moon. Many Muslim communities now follow the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia, which uses astronomical calculations to start months in a more predictable way. Using this calendar, sundown on Tuesday, December 31, will probably mark the beginning of Rajab, the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. Rajab is one of the four sacred months in which warfare and fighting are forbidden.
Friday morning, Jan. 3, 2025 At about 6 a.m. EST for the Washington, D.C. area, under bright suburban sky conditions, the MeteorActive app predicts the peak rate from the Quadrantids and all other background sources might reach 14 meteors per hour. Going to a nearby dark sky area (like Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia) might get these rates up to about 34 meteors per hour.
Friday evening, January 3 The bright planet Venus will appear near the waxing crescent Moon. As evening twilight ends at 6:02 p.m. EST the Moon will be 29 degrees above the southwestern horizon with Venus 3.5 degrees to the lower right. As Venus sets on the west southwestern horizon less than 3 hours later at 8:49 p.m., it will be 4.5 degrees to the lower right of the Moon.
Saturday morning, January 4 Earth will be at perihelion, the closest we get to the Sun in our orbit. Between perihelion and 6 months later at aphelion there is about a 6.7% difference in the intensity of the sunlight reaching Earth, one of the reasons the seasons in the Southern hemisphere are more extreme than in the Northern Hemisphere. Perihelion is also when Earth is moving the fastest in its orbit around the Sun, so if you run east at local midnight, you will be moving about as fast as you can for your location (in Sun-centered coordinates).
Saturday morning, January 4 Ignoring Daylight Saving Time, for the Washington, D.C. area and similar latitudes (I’ve not checked elsewhere), this will be the morning with the latest sunrise of the year at 7:26:56 a.m. EST.
Saturday evening, January 4 This will be the first evening the planet Mars will be above the east-northeastern horizon as evening twilight ends, joining Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn in the sky. Mars is approaching its closest and brightest for the year, which will happen on January 15.
Also on Saturday evening, January 4 The planet Saturn will appear near the waxing crescent Moon. As evening twilight ends at 6:03 p.m. EST, the Moon will be 40 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon with Saturn 3 degrees to the lower right. As Saturn sets on the western horizon less than 4 hours later at 9:53 p.m., it will be 5 degrees below the Moon.
Monday evening, January 6 The Moon will appear half full as it reaches its first quarter at 6:56 p.m. EST (when it will be 56 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon).
Tuesday evening, January 7 At 7:07 p.m. EST, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to Earth for this orbit.
Thursday evening, January 9 The waxing gibbous Moon will pass in front of the Pleiades star cluster. This may be viewed best with binoculars, as the brightness of the Moon will make it hard to see the stars in this star cluster. As evening twilight ends at 6:07 p.m. EST, the Pleiades will appear 1 degree to the lower left of the full Moon. Over the next few hours, including as the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 8:37 p.m., the Moon will pass in front of the Pleiades, blocking many of these stars from view. By about midnight the Pleiades will appear about 1 degree below the Moon, and the Moon and the Pleiades will separate as Friday morning progresses.
Also on Thursday night, January 9 This will be when the planet Venus reaches its greatest angular separation from the Sun as seen from Earth for this apparition (called greatest elongation). Because the angle between the line from the Sun to Venus and the line of the horizon changes with the seasons, the date when Venus and the Sun appear farthest apart as seen from Earth is not always the same as when it appears highest above the west-southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends, which occurs on January 27.
Friday evening, January 10 Jupiter will appear near the waxing gibbous Moon. As evening twilight ends at 6:08 p.m. EST, Jupiter will be 5 degrees to the lower right. As the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 9:37 p.m., Jupiter will be 6 degrees below the Moon. The pair will continue to separate until Jupiter sets Saturday morning at 4:45 a.m.
Sunday evening, January 12 There is a very slight chance that the sungrazing comet, C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) (discovered in April 2024) will be visible 5 degrees to the upper right of the setting Sun. Most likely, this comet will not be bright enough to see in the daytime or will break up and vanish from view like comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) did in October. The odds are low, but if the horizon is very clear, your best chance of seeing this comet might be after sunset at 5:07 p.m. EST, but before the comet sets about 10 minutes later.
The full Moon after next will be Monday evening, January 13, at 5:27 p.m. EST. This will be on Tuesday from the South Africa Time and Eastern European Time zones eastward across the rest of Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, etc., to the International Date Line in the mid-Pacific. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Sunday evening (and possibly the last part of Sunday morning) into Wednesday morning. On Monday night the full Moon will appear near and pass in front of the bright planet Mars, with the bright star Pollux above the pair. As evening twilight ends at 6:11 p.m. EST, the three will form a triangle, with Mars 2 degrees to the lower left and Pollux 3 degrees to the upper left of the Moon. For most of the continental USA as well as parts of Africa, Canada, and Mexico, the Moon will pass in front of Mars. Times will vary for other locations, but for NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Mars will vanish behind the bottom of the Moon at about 9:16 p.m. and reappear from behind the upper right of the Moon at about 10:31 p.m. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night early on Tuesday morning at 12:37 a.m., Mars will be 1 degree to the right of the Moon and Pollux 5 degrees to the upper right. As morning twilight begins at 6:23 a.m., Mars will be 4 degrees and Pollux 8 degrees to the lower right of the Moon.
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By European Space Agency
Zoom into Solar Orbiter's four new Sun images, assembled from high-resolution observations by the spacecraft's PHI and EUI instruments made on 22 March 2023. The PHI images are the highest-resolution full views of the Sun's visible surface to date, including maps of the Sun's messy magnetic field and movement on the surface. These can be compared to the new EUI image, which reveals the Sun's glowing outer atmosphere, or corona.
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By NASA
Skywatching Skywatching Home Eclipses What’s Up Explore the Night Sky Night Sky Network More Tips and Guides FAQ 24 Min Read The Next Full Moon Will Be the Last of Four Consecutive Supermoons
Guardians of Traffic statue in Cleveland, Ohio, in front of the supermoon that was visible on Sept. 17, 2024. On this day, the full moon was a partial lunar eclipse; a supermoon; and a harvest moon. Credits:
NASA/GRC/Sara Lowthian-Hanna The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon; the Beaver, Frost, Frosty, or Snow Moon; Kartik Purnima; Loy Krathong; the Bon Om Touk (”Boat Racing Festival”) Moon, the Tazaungdaing Festival Moon; and Ill Poya.
The next full Moon will be Friday afternoon, November 15, 2024, at 4:29 PM EST. This will be early Saturday morning from Kamchatka and Fiji Time eastwards to the International Date Line. The Pleiades star cluster will appear near the full Moon. The Moon will appear full for about 3 days around this time, from a few hours before sunrise on Thursday morning to a few hours before sunrise on Sunday morning.
This full Moon will be the last of four consecutive supermoons, slightly closer and brighter than the first of the four in mid-August.
The Maine Farmers’ Almanac began publishing Native American names for full Moons in the 1930s. Over time these names have become widely known and used. According to this almanac, as the full Moon in November this is the Beaver Moon, the Frost or Frosty Moon, or the Snow Moon. For the Beaver Moon, one interpretation is that mid-Fall was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps freeze to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Beaver Moon came from how active the beavers are in this season as they prepare for winter. The Frost, Frosty, or Snow Moon names come from the frosts and early snows that begin this time of year, particularly in northeastern North America.
This is Kartik Purnima (the full Moon of the Hindu lunar month of Kartik) and is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs (each for different reasons).
In Thailand and nearby countries this full Moon is Loy Krathong, a festival that includes decorating baskets and floating them on a river.
In Cambodia this full Moon corresponds with the 3-day Bon Om Touk (“Boat Racing Festival”), the Cambodian Water Festival featuring dragon boat races.
In Myanmar this is the Tazaungdaing Festival, a festival that predates the introduction of Buddhism and includes the launching of hot air balloons (sometimes flaming or laden with fireworks).
In Sri Lanka this is Ill (or Il) Poya, commemorating the Buddha’s ordination of sixty disciples as the first Buddhist missionaries.
In many traditional Moon-based calendars the full Moons fall on or near the middle of each month. This full Moon is near the middle of the tenth month of the Chinese year of the Dragon, Marcheshvan in the Hebrew calendar, a name often shortened to Cheshvan or Heshvan, and Jumādā al-ʾŪlā, the fifth month of the Islamic year.
As usual, the wearing of suitably celebratory celestial attire is encouraged in honor of the full Moon. Get ready for winter, visit a local river (particularly if there are any festivals or boat races), but please don’t launch flaming hot air balloons filled with fireworks (some online videos make it quite clear why this is a bad idea), especially in areas subject to wildfires!
The next month or two should be a great time for Jupiter and Saturn watching. Both will continue to shift westward each night, gradually making them easier to see earlier in the evening sky.
Gordon Johnston
Retired NASA Program Executive
As for other celestial events between now and the full Moon after next (with specific times and angles based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC):
As Autumn continues the daily periods of sunlight continue shortening.
On Friday, November 15, (the day of the full Moon), morning twilight will begin at 5:51 AM EST, sunrise will be at 6:51 AM, solar noon will be at 11:53 AM when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 32.4 degrees, sunset will be at 4:54 PM, and evening twilight will end at 5:55 PM.
Our 24-hour clock is based on the average length of the solar day. The day of the winter solstice is sometimes called the “shortest day of the year” (because it has the shortest period of sunlight). But it could also be called the “longest day of the year” because the longest solar day is on or just after the solstice. Because the solar days are longer, the earliest sunset of the year occurs before the solstice and the latest sunrise of the year (ignoring Daylight Savings Time) occurs after the solstice. For the Washington, DC area, the sunsets on Friday and Saturday, December 6 and 7, 2024, are tied for the earliest sunsets. On Friday, morning twilight will begin at 6:10 AM EST, sunrise will be at 7:13 AM, solar noon will be at 11:59 AM when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 28.5 degrees, sunset will be at 4:45:50 PM, and evening twilight will end at 5:49 PM. On Saturday, morning twilight will begin at 6:11 AM EST, sunrise will be at 7:14 AM, solar noon will actually be at noon (12:00 PM) when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 28.4 degrees, sunset will be at 4:45:50 PM, and evening twilight will end at 5:49 PM.
By Sunday, December 15, (the day of the full Moon after next), morning twilight will begin at 6:16 AM EST, sunrise will be at 7:20 AM, solar noon will be at 12:04 PM when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 27.8 degrees, sunset will be at 4:47 PM, and evening twilight will end at 5:51 PM.
The next month or two should be a great time for Jupiter and Saturn watching, especially with a backyard telescope. Saturn was at its closest and brightest on September 7 and is high in the southern sky as evening twilight ends. Jupiter will be shifting into the evening sky during this lunar cycle. On November 15 Jupiter will be rising about a half hour after evening twilight ends. Jupiter will be at its closest and brightest on December 7, rising around sunset and setting around sunrise. By the full Moon after next on December 15, Jupiter will be 19 degrees above the horizon as evening twilight ends. Both Jupiter and Saturn will continue to shift westward each night, gradually making them easier to see earlier in the evening sky (and friendlier for backyard stargazing, especially if you have young ones with earlier bedtimes). With clear skies and a telescope you should be able to see Jupiter’s four bright moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io, noticeably shifting positions in the course of an evening. For Saturn, you should be able to see Saturn’s rings and its bright moon Titan. The rings are appearing thinner and will be edge-on to the Earth in March 2025. We won’t get the “classic” view of Saturn showing off its rings until 2026.
Comets
Of the two comets described in my last Moon Missive, one remains visible through large binoculars or a telescope during this lunar cycle. The sungrazing Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) disintegrated during its very close pass by the Sun and is no longer visible. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will be in the evening sky, fading from visual magnitude 8 to 10.3 as it moves away from the Earth and Sun.
In addition, comet 33P/LINEAR should be visible with large binoculars or a telescope in November and December, shining at about magnitude 10 around its perihelion on November 29 and closest approach to Earth on December 9. The next comet that we anticipate might be visible to the unaided eye is C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), which will reach its closest to the Sun and Earth in mid January 2025. It is another sungrazing comet that might put on a good show or might break apart and vanish.
Meteor Showers
Unfortunately, one of the three major meteor showers of the year, the Geminids (004 GEM), will peak the morning of December 14, with the light of the nearly full Moon interfering. According to the International Meteor Organization, observers south of about 30 degrees north might be able to see these meteors for an hour or so between moonset and the first light of dawn (although the radiant for this meteor shower is at 33 degrees north latitude, so observers too far south of the equator will also have limited visibility). In a good year, this shower can produce 150 visible meteors per hour under ideal conditions, but this will not be a good year. For the Washington, DC area the MeteorActive app predicts that at about 2 AM EST on the morning of December 14, under bright suburban sky conditions, the peak rate from the Geminids and all other background sources might reach 20 meteors per hour.
If the weather cooperates by being clear with no clouds or hazes and you do go looking for meteors, try to find a place as far as possible from light sources that has a clear view of a wide expanse of the sky. Give your eyes plenty of time to adapt to the dark. Your color vision (cone cells), concentrated in the center of your field of view, will adapt to darkness in about 10 minutes. Your more sensitive night vision rod cells will continue to improve for an hour or more (with most of the improvement in the first 35 to 45 minutes). The more sensitive your eyes are, the more chance you will have of seeing meteors. Since some meteors are faint, you will tend to see more meteors from the “corner of your eye.” Even a short exposure to light (from passing car headlights, etc.) will start the adaptation over again (so no turning on a light or your cell phone to check what time it is).
In addition, a number of relatively minor meteor showers will peak during this lunar cycle. The light of the waning Moon will interfere with the Leonids (013 LEO) on November 17, α-Monocerotids (246 AMO) on November 21, and November Orionids (250 NOO) on November 28. The Phoenicids (254 PHO), best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, may peak around December 1. Models predict low rates and faint meteors this year but not much is known about this meteor shower. Most years the rates are low, but as reported by the International Meteor Organization, significant activity was observed in 2014. Once, in 1956, the Phoenicids reached an estimated rate of 100 visible meteors per hour. Another Southern Hemisphere shower is the Puppid-Velids (301 PUP), expected to peak sometime around December 4 at about 10 meteors per hour (under ideal conditions). The Monocerotids (019 MON) and σ-Hydrids (016 HYD) are both expected to peak on December 9 at 3 meteors per hour and 7 meteors per hour, respectively. These rates are low enough that seeing them from our light-polluted urban areas will be unlikely.
Evening Sky Highlights
On the evening of Friday, November 15 (the evening of the full Moon), as twilight ends (at 5:55 PM EST), the rising Moon will be 14 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon with the Pleiades star cluster 5 degrees to the lower left. The brightest planet in the sky will be Venus at 12 degrees above the southwestern horizon. Next in brightness will be Mercury at less than a degree above the west-southwestern horizon. Saturn will be 38 degrees above the south-southeastern horizon. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will be 39 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon, with its current brightness curve predicting it will have faded to magnitude 8, too faint to see with the unaided eye. The bright star closest to overhead will be Deneb at 79 degrees above the northwestern horizon. Deneb (visual magnitude 1.3) is the 19th brightest star in our night sky and is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the swan. One of the three bright stars of the “Summer Triangle” (along with Vega and Altair). Deneb is about 20 times more massive than our Sun but has used up its hydrogen, becoming a blue-white supergiant about 200 times the diameter of the Sun. If Deneb were where our Sun is, it would extend to about the orbit of the Earth. Deneb is about 2,600 light years from us.
As this lunar cycle progresses, Saturn and the background of stars will appear to shift westward each evening (as the Earth moves around the Sun). Bright Venus will shift to the left and higher in the sky along the southwestern horizon. Mercury, shining brighter than Saturn, will initially shift left along the southwestern horizon until November 19, after which it will shift to the right. On November 22 Jupiter will join the planets Venus, Mercury and Saturn in the sky as twilight ends, shining brighter than Mercury. November 24 will be the last evening Mercury will be above the horizon as evening twilight ends, although it will remain visible in the glow of dusk for a few more evenings as it dims and shifts towards its passage between the Earth and the Sun on December 5. Jupiter will be at its closest and brightest for the year on December 7. The waxing Moon will pass by Venus on December 4, Saturn on December 7, and the Pleiades on December 13.
By the evening of Saturday, December 14 (the start of the night of the December 15 full Moon), as twilight ends (at 5:50 PM EST), the rising Moon will be 19 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon with bright planet Jupiter 6 degrees to the right and the bright star Aldebaran father to the right. The brightest planet visible will be Venus at 21 degrees above the southwestern horizon. Next in brightness will be Jupiter. Saturn will be 43 degrees above the southern horizon. The bright star closest to overhead will still be Deneb at 61 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon.
Morning Sky Highlights
On the morning of Friday, November 15 (the morning of the full Moon after next), as twilight begins (at 5:51 AM EST), the setting full Moon will be 7 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon. The brightest planet in the sky will be Jupiter at 35 degrees above the western horizon. Mars will be at 68 degrees above the southwestern horizon. Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) will not be visible, even with a telescope, as it broke apart into pieces too small to see as it passed its closest to the Sun on October 28. The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Pollux at 69 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon (higher than Mars by about a half degree). Pollux is the 17th brightest star in our night sky and the brighter of the twin stars in the constellation Gemini. It is an orange tinted star about 34 lightyears from Earth. Pollux is not quite twice the mass of our Sun but about 9 times the diameter and 33 times the brightness.
As this lunar cycle progresses, Jupiter, Mars, and the background of stars will appear to shift westward each evening, with Mars passing near the Beehive star cluster in early December. The waning Moon will pass by the Pleiades star cluster on November 16, Jupiter on November 17, Mars and Pollux on November 20, appear on the other side of Mars on November 21, Regulus on November 22 and 23, and Spica on November 27 (passing in front of Spica for parts of the USA and Canada). Jupiter will be at its closest and brightest on December 7, rising around sunset and setting around sunrise. December 12 will be the first morning Mercury will be above the east-southeastern horizon as morning twilight begins, though it will be visible in the glow of dawn for a few days before.
By the morning of Sunday, December 15 (the morning of the full Moon after next), as twilight begins (at 6:16 AM EST), the setting full Moon will be 15 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon. The brightest planet in the sky will be Jupiter, appearing below the Moon at 5 degrees above the horizon. Second in brightness will be Mars at 46 degrees above the western horizon, then Mercury at 4 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon. The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Regulus at 55 degrees above the southwestern horizon, with Arcturus a close second at 52 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon. Regulus is the 21st brightest star in our night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Leo the lion. The Arabic name for Regulus translates as “the heart of the lion.” Although we see Regulus as a single star, it is actually four stars (two pairs of stars orbiting each other). Regulus is about 79 light years from us. Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes the herdsman or plowman and the 4th brightest star in our night sky. It is 36.7 light years from us. While it has about the same mass as our Sun, it is about 2.6 billion years older and has used up its core hydrogen, becoming a red giant 25 times the size and 170 times the brightness of our Sun. One way to identify Arcturus in the night sky is to start at the Big Dipper, then follow the arc of the handle as it “arcs towards Arcturus.”
Detailed Daily Guide
Here for your reference is a day-by-day listing of celestial events between now and the full Moon on December 15, 2024. The times and angles are based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and some of these details may differ for where you are (I use parentheses to indicate times specific to the DC area). If your latitude is significantly different than 39 degrees north (and especially for my Southern Hemisphere readers), I recommend using an astronomy app set for your location or a star-watching guide from a local observatory, news outlet, or astronomy club.
Thursday morning, November 14, at 6:18 EST, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit.
As mentioned above, the full Moon will be Friday afternoon, November 15, 2024, at 4:29 PM EST. This will be early Saturday morning from Kamchatka and Fiji Time eastwards to the International Date Line. It will be the last of four consecutive supermoons. The Pleiades star cluster will appear near the full Moon. The Moon will appear full for about 3 days around this time, from a few hours before sunrise Thursday morning to a few hours before sunrise Sunday morning.
Friday evening into Saturday morning, November 15 to 16, the Pleiades star cluster will appear near the full Moon. This may best be viewed with binoculars, as the brightness of the full Moon may make it hard to see the stars in this star cluster. As evening twilight ends (at 5:55 PM EST), the Pleiades will appear 5 degrees to the lower left of the full Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night (Saturday morning at 12:07 AM), the Pleiades will be 2 degrees to the upper left. The Moon will pass in front of the Pleiades in the early morning hours. By the time morning twilight begins (at 5:52 AM) the Pleiades will be a degree to the lower right of the Moon.
Saturday, November 16, will be when the planet Mercury reaches its greatest angular separation from the Sun as seen from the Earth for this apparition (called greatest elongation). Because the angle between the line from the Sun to Mercury and the line of the horizon changes with the seasons, the date when Mercury and the Sun are farthest apart as seen from the Earth is not always the same as when Mercury appears highest above the southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends, which will occur three evenings later, on November 19.
Saturday night into Sunday morning, November 16 to 17, the planet Uranus will be at its closest and brightest for the year, called “opposition” because on Saturday night it will be opposite the Earth from the Sun. At opposition Uranus can be bright enough to see with the unaided eye (under very clear, dark sky conditions). From our light-polluted urban locations you will need binoculars or a telescope.
Also on Saturday night into Sunday morning, November 16 to 17, the planet Jupiter will appear near the full Moon. As Jupiter rises on the east-northeastern horizon (at 6:14 PM EST) it will be 10 degrees to the lower left of the Moon. The Moon will reach its highest for the night about 7 hours later (at 1:09 AM), with Jupiter 7.5 degrees to the lower left. By the time morning twilight begins (at 5:52 AM) Jupiter will be 6 degrees to the left of the Moon.
Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, November 19 to 20, the bright star Pollux and the bright planet Mars will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. As the Moon rises on the northeastern horizon (at 8:20 PM EST), Pollux will be 2.5 degrees to the upper left of the Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest in the sky (at 4:11 AM) Pollux will be 5 degrees to the upper right of the Moon, with Mars 7.5 degrees to the lower left of the Moon, such that these three appear aligned. By the time morning twilight begins (at 5:55 AM) Mars will be 7 degrees to the upper left and Pollux 5.5 degrees to the lower right.
Wednesday night into Thursday morning, November 20 to 21, the waning gibbous Moon will have shifted to the other side of Mars. As the Moon rises on the east-northeastern horizon (at 9:29 PM EST) Mars will be 4 degrees to the upper right of the Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night (at 5:03 AM) Mars will be 7 degrees to the right of the Moon. Morning twilight will begin less than an hour later (at 5:56 AM) with Mars 7 degrees to the lower right of the Moon.
Friday evening, November 22, will be the first evening the bright planet Jupiter will be above the east-northeastern horizon as evening twilight ends (at 5:51 PM EST).
Also on Friday evening, the waning Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its last quarter at 8:28 PM EST (when we can’t see it).
Friday night into Saturday morning, November 22 to 23, the bright star Regulus will appear near the waning half-Moon. As Regulus rises on the east-northeastern horizon (at 11:29 PM EST) it will be 9 degrees below the Moon, with Mars farther to the upper right and Pollux beyond Mars. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night (at 5:49 AM) Regulus will be 7 degrees to the lower left, and morning twilight will begin 8 minutes later (at 5:57 AM).
Saturday night into Sunday morning, November 23 to 24, the waning crescent Moon will have shifted to the other side of Regulus. When the Moon rises on the east-northeastern horizon (at 11:38 PM EST) Regulus will be 4 degrees to the upper right of the Moon. The pair will separate as the night progresses. By the time morning twilight begins (at 5:58 AM) Regulus will be 6.5 degrees to the upper right of the Moon.
Sunday evening, November 24, will be the last evening the planet Mercury will be above the west-southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends, although it should remain visible in the glow of dusk before twilight ends for a few more evenings as it dims and shifts towards its passage between the Earth and the Sun on December 5.
Tuesday morning, November 26, at 6:57 AM EST, the Moon will be at apogee, its farthest from the Earth for this orbit.
On Wednesday morning, November 27, the bright star Spica will appear near the waning crescent Moon. As Spica rises on the east-southeastern horizon (at 3:41 AM EST) it will be a degree below the Moon. As morning progresses the Moon will shift towards Spica, and for much of the Eastern USA and Canada the Moon will block Spica from view. See http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/1127zc1925.htm for a map and information on the areas that will be able to see this eclipse. Times will vary by location, but for the Washington, DC area, Spica will vanish behind the illuminated limb of the Moon at 5:34 AM and the Moon will still be blocking Spica from sight as morning twilight begins at 6:02 AM.
Early Sunday morning, December 1, at 1:22 AM EST, will be the new Moon, when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from the Earth.
The day of or the day after the New Moon marks the start of the new month for most moon-based calendars. The eleventh month of the Chinese year of the Dragon starts on Sunday, December 1. Sundown on Sunday, December 1, marks the start of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar. Hanukkah will begin towards the end of Kislev. In the Islamic calendar the months traditionally start with the first sighting of the waxing crescent Moon. Many Muslim communities now follow the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia, which uses astronomical calculations to start months in a more predictable way. Using this calendar, sundown on Sunday, December 1, will probably mark the beginning of Jumādā ath-Thāniyah, also known as Jumādā al-ʾĀkhirah.
Wednesday evening, December 4, the bright planet Venus will appear 3 degrees to the upper right of the waxing crescent Moon. The Moon will be 15 degrees above the southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends (at 5:49 PM EST). The Moon will set 2 hours later (at 7:46 PM).
Thursday evening, December 5, the planet Mercury will be passing between the Earth and the Sun as seen from the Earth, called inferior conjunction. Planets that orbit inside of the orbit of Earth can have two types of conjunctions with the Sun, inferior (when passing between the Earth and the Sun) and superior (when passing on the far side of the Sun as seen from the Earth). Mercury will be shifting from the evening sky to the morning sky and will begin emerging from the glow of dawn on the eastern horizon in less than a week.
Saturday afternoon, December 7, the planet Jupiter will be at its closest and brightest for the year, called “opposition” because it will be opposite the Earth from the Sun, effectively a “full” Jupiter. Jupiter will be 12 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon as evening twilight ends (at 5:49 PM EST), will reach its highest in the sky right around midnight (11:59 PM), and will be 11 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon as morning twilight begins (Sunday morning at 6:11 AM). Only planets that orbit farther from the Sun than the Earth can be seen at opposition.
Saturday evening, December 7, the planet Saturn will appear to the upper left of the waxing crescent Moon. They will be 6 degrees apart as evening twilight ends (at 5:49 PM EST). Saturn will appear to shift clockwise and closer to the Moon, so that by the time the Moon sets 5.5 hours later (at 11:18 PM) Saturn will be 3.5 degrees above the Moon on the west-southwestern horizon. For a swath in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Asia the Moon will actually block Saturn from view, see http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/planets/1208saturn.htm for a map and information on the locations that can see this eclipse.
Sunday morning, December 8, the Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its first quarter at 10:27 AM EST (when we can’t see it).
Thursday morning, December 12, will be the first morning the planet Mercury will be above the east-southeastern horizon as morning twilight begins (at 6:14 AM EST).
Thursday morning, December 12, at 8:18 AM EST, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit.
Friday evening into Saturday morning, December 13 to 14, the Pleiades star cluster will appear near the full Moon. This may best be viewed with binoculars, as the brightness of the full Moon may make it hard to see the stars in this star cluster. As evening twilight ends (at 5:50 PM EST), the Pleiades will appear 4 degrees to the upper right of the full Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night (at 10:49 PM), the Pleiades will be 6 degrees to the right. By about 2 AM the Pleiades will be 8 degrees to the lower right of the Moon and they will continue to separate as the morning progresses.
As mentioned above, one of the three major meteor showers of the year, the Geminids (004 GEM), will peak Saturday morning, December 14. The light of the nearly full Moon will interfere. In a good year, this shower can produce 150 visible meteors per hour under ideal conditions, but this will not be a good year. For the Washington, DC area the MeteorActive app predicts that at about 2 AM EST on the morning of December 14, under bright suburban sky conditions, the peak rate from the Geminids and all other background sources might reach 20 meteors per hour. See the meteor summary above for suggestions for meteor viewing.
Saturday morning, December 14, the full Moon, the bright planet Jupiter, and the bright star Aldebaran will form a triangle. As Aldebaran sets on the west-northwestern horizon (at 6:10 AM EST) it will be 9 degrees to the lower left of the Moon with Jupiter 7 degrees to the upper left of the Moon. Morning twilight will begin 6 minutes later.
Saturday evening, December 15, the full Moon will have shifted to the other side of Jupiter. Jupiter will be 6 degrees to the right of the Moon as evening twilight ends (at 5:50 PM EST) and the pair will separate as the night progresses.
The full Moon after next will be Sunday morning, December 15, 2024, at 4:02 AM EST. This will be Saturday evening from Alaska Time westwards to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for about 3 days around this time, from Friday evening through Monday morning, making this a full Moon weekend.
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By NASA
The study of X-ray emission from astronomical objects reveals secrets about the Universe at the largest and smallest spatial scales. Celestial X-rays are produced by black holes consuming nearby stars, emitted by the million-degree gas that traces the structure between galaxies, and can be used to predict whether stars may be able to host planets hospitable to life. X-ray observations have shown that most of the visible matter in the universe exists as hot gas between galaxies and have conclusively demonstrated that the presence of “dark matter” is needed to explain galaxy cluster dynamics, that dark matter dominates the mass of galaxy clusters, and that it governs the expansion of the cosmos.
X-ray observations also enable us to probe mysteries of the Universe on the smallest scales. X-ray observations of compact objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes allow us to use the Universe as a physics laboratory to study conditions that are orders of magnitude more extreme in terms of density, pressure, temperature, and magnetic field strength than anything that can be produced on Earth. In this astrophysical laboratory, researchers expect to reveal new physics at the subatomic scale by conducting investigations such as probing the neutron star equation of state and testing quantum electrodynamics with observations of neutron star atmospheres. At NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, a team of scientists and engineers is building, testing, and flying innovative optics that bring the Universe’s X-ray mysteries into sharper focus.
A composite X-ray/Optical/Infrared image of the Crab Pulsar. The X-ray image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue and white), reveals exquisite details in the central ring structures and gas flowing out of the polar jets. Optical light from the Hubble Space Telescope (purple) shows foreground and background stars as pinpoints of light. Infrared light from the Spitzer Space Telescope (pink) traces cooler gas in the nebula. Finally, magnetic field direction derived from X-ray polarization observed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer is shown as orange lines. Magnetic field lines: NASA/Bucciantini et al; X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA-JPL-Caltech Unlike optical telescopes that create images by reflecting or refracting light at near-90-degree angles (normal incidence), focusing X-ray optics must be designed to reflect light at very small angles (grazing incidence). At normal incidence, X-rays are either absorbed by the surface of a mirror or penetrate it entirely. However, at grazing angles of incidence, X-rays reflect very efficiently due to an effect called total external reflection. In grazing incidence, X-rays reflect off the surface of a mirror like rocks skipping on the surface of a pond.
A classic design for astronomical grazing incidence optics is the Wolter-I prescription, which consists of two reflecting surfaces, a parabola and hyperbola (see figure below). This optical prescription is revolved around the optical axis to produce a full-shell mirror (i.e., the mirror spans the full circumference) that resembles a gently tapered cone. To increase the light collecting area, multiple mirror shells with incrementally larger diameters and a common focus are fabricated and nested concentrically to comprise a mirror module assembly (MMA).
Focusing optics are critical to studying the X-ray universe because, in contrast to other optical systems like collimators or coded masks, they produce high signal-to-noise images with low background noise. Two key metrics that characterize the performance of X-ray optics are angular resolution, which is the ability of an optical system to discriminate between closely spaced objects, and effective area, which is the light collecting area of the telescope, typically quoted in units of cm2. Angular resolution is typically measured as the half-power diameter (HPD) of a focused spot in units of arcseconds. The HPD encircles half of the incident photons in a focused spot and measures the sharpness of the final image; a smaller number is better.
Schematic of a full-shell Wolter-I X-ray optic mirror module assembly with five concentrically nested mirror shells. Parallel rays of light enter from the left, reflect twice off the reflective inside surface of the shell (first off the parabolic segment and then off the hyperbolic segment), and converge at the focal plane. NASA MSFC NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been building and flying lightweight, full-shell, focusing X-ray optics for over three decades, always meeting or exceeding angular resolution and effective area requirements. MSFC utilizes an electroformed nickel replication (ENR) technique to make these thin full-shell X-ray optics from nickel alloy.
X-ray optics development at MSFC began in the early 1990s with the fabrication of optics to support NASA’s Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF-S) and then continued via the Constellation-X technology development programs. In 2001, MSFC launched a balloon payload that included two modules each with three mirrors, which produced the first focused hard X-ray (>10 keV) images of an astrophysical source by imaging Cygnus X-1, GRS 1915, and the Crab Nebula. This initial effort resulted in several follow-up missions over the next 12 years, and became known as the High Energy Replicated Optics (HERO) balloon program.
In 2012, the first of four sounding rocket flights of the Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) flew with MSFC optics onboard, producing the first focused images of the Sun at energies greater than 5 keV. In 2019 the Astronomical Roentgen Telescope X-ray Concentrator (ART-XC) instrument on the Spectr-Roentgen-Gamma Mission launched with seven MSFC-fabricated X-ray MMAs, each containing 28 mirror shells. ART-XC is currently mapping the sky in the 4-30 keV hard X-ray energy range, studying exotic objects like neutron stars in our own galaxy as well as active galactic nuclei, which are spread across the visible universe. In 2021, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), flew and is now performing extraordinary science with an MSFC-led team using three, 24-shell MMAs that were fabricated and calibrated in-house.
Most recently, in 2024, the fourth FOXSI sounding rocket campaign launched with a high-resolution MSFC MMA. The optics achieved 9.5 arcsecond HPD angular resolution during pre-flight test with an expected 7 arcsecond HPD in gravity-free flight, making this the highest angular resolution flight observation made with a nickel-replicated X-ray optic. Currently MSFC is fabricating an MMA for the Rocket Experiment Demonstration of a Soft X-ray (REDSoX) polarimeter, a sounding rocket mission that will fly a novel soft X-ray polarimeter instrument to observe active galactic nuclei. The REDSoX MMA optic will be 444 mm in diameter, which will make it the largest MMA ever produced by MSFC and the second largest replicated nickel X-ray optic in the world.
Scientists Wayne Baumgartner (left, crouched) and Nick Thomas (left, standing) calibrate an IXPE MMA in the MSFC 100 m Beamline. Scientist Stephen Bongiorno (right) applies epoxy to an IXPE shell during MMA assembly. NASA MSFC The ultimate performance of an X-ray optic is determined by errors in the shape, position, and roughness of the optical surface. To push the performance of X-ray optics toward even higher angular resolution and achieve more ambitious science goals, MSFC is currently engaged in a fundamental research and development effort to improve all aspects of full-shell optics fabrication.
Given that these optics are made with the Electroformed Nickel Replication technique, the fabrication process begins with creation of a replication master, called the mandrel, which is a negative of the desired optical surface. First, the mandrel is figured and polished to specification, then a thin layer of nickel alloy is electroformed onto the mandrel surface. Next, the nickel alloy layer is removed to produce a replicated optical shell, and finally the thin shell is attached to a stiff holding structure for use.
Each step in this process imparts some degree of error into the final replicated shell. Research and development efforts at MSFC are currently concentrating on reducing distortion induced during the electroforming metal deposition and release steps. Electroforming-induced distortion is caused by material stress built into the electroformed material as it deposits onto the mandrel. Decreasing release-induced distortion is a matter of reducing adhesion strength between the shell and mandrel, increasing strength of the shell material to prevent yielding, and reducing point defects in the release layer.
Additionally, verifying the performance of these advanced optics requires world-class test facilities. The basic premise of testing an optic designed for X-ray astrophysics is to place a small, bright X-ray source far away from the optic. If the angular size of the source, as viewed from the optic, is smaller than the angular resolution of the optic, the source is effectively simulating X-ray starlight. Due to the absorption of X-rays by air, the entire test facility light path must be placed inside a vacuum chamber.
At MSFC, a group of scientists and engineers operate the Marshall 100-meter X-ray beamline, a world-class end-to-end test facility for flight and laboratory X-ray optics, instruments, and telescopes. As per the name, it consists of a 100-meter-long vacuum tube with an 8-meter-long, 3-meter-diameter instrument chamber and a variety of X-ray sources ranging from 0.25 – 114 keV. Across the street sits the X-Ray and Cryogenic Facility (XRCF), a 527-meter-long beamline with an 18-meter-long, 6-meter-diameter instrument chamber. These facilities are available for the scientific community to use and highlight the comprehensive optics development and test capability that Marshall is known for.
Within the X-ray astrophysics community there exist a variety of angular resolution and effective area needs for focusing optics. Given its storied history in X-ray optics, MSFC is uniquely poised to fulfill requirements for large or small, medium- or high-angular-resolution X-ray optics. To help guide technology development, the astrophysics community convenes once per decade to produce a decadal survey. The need for high-angular-resolution and high-throughput X-ray optics is strongly endorsed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s.In pursuit of this goal, MSFC is continuing to advance the state of the art in full-shell optics. This work will enable the extraordinary mysteries of the X-ray universe to be revealed.
Project Leads
Dr. Jessica Gaskin and Dr. Stephen Bongiorno, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Sponsoring Organizations
The NASA Astrophysics Division supports this work primarily through the Internal Scientist Funding Model Direct Work Package and competed solicitations. This work is also supported by the Heliophysics Division through competed solicitations, as well as by directed work from other government entities.
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By NASA
29 Min Read The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon, and the Hunter’s Moon
A supermoon rises behind the U.S. Capitol, on March 9, 2020, in Washington. Credits:
NASA/Joel Kowsky The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon; the Hunter’s Moon; the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, or the Sanguine or Blood Moon; the start of Sukkoth; Sharad Purnima, Kumara Purnima, Kojagari Purnima, Navanna Purnima Kojagrat Purnima, or Kaumudi Purnima; the end of Vassa and Pavarana; the Thadingyut Festival Moon; the end of the Phaung Daw U Pagoda Festival; and Vap Poya.
The next full Moon will be Thursday morning, Oct. 17, 2024, at 7:26 a.m. EDT. This will be late Wednesday night for the International Date Line West time zone and early Friday morning from New Zealand Time eastwards to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Tuesday evening through Friday morning.
This will be the third of four consecutive supermoons (and the brightest by a tiny margin).
As the full Moon after the Harvest Moon, this will be the Hunter’s Moon. The earliest written use of the term “Hunter’s Moon” identified in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1710. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, with the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the harvesters have reaped the fields, hunters can easily see the animals that have come out to glean (and the foxes that have come out to prey upon them).
The Maine Farmer’s Almanac first published Native American names for the full Moons in the 1930s. Over time these names have become widely known and used.
According to this almanac, as the full Moon in October the Algonquin tribes in what is now the northeastern United States called this the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, or the Sanguine or Blood Moon. Some sources indicate that the Dying Grass, Sanguine, and Blood Moon names are related to the turning of the leaves and dying back of plants with the start of fall. Others indicate that the names Sanguine and Blood Moon are associated with hunting to prepare for winter. I have read that the name “Travel Moon” comes from observing the migration of birds and other animals preparing for the winter. I don’t know, but this name may also refer to the season when the more northern tribes would move down from the mountains for the winter. For example, both the Iroquois and Algonquin would hunt in the Adirondack Mountains during the summertime but leave in fall to avoid the harsh mountain winters.
As the full Moon in the Hebrew month of Tishrei, this full Moon falls near the start of Sukkoth, a 7-day holiday starting on the 15th day of the month. Sukkoth is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of the Ingathering. Sukkoth honors both the sheltering of the People of Israel during the 40 years in the wilderness in the Book of Leviticus as well as an ancient harvest festival in the Book of Exodus. Sukkot is named for the sukkah (booths or huts) traditionally built for the occasion that represent the temporary huts in which Israelites lived after escaping from Egypt. Families symbolically invite ancestors to share meals in the sukkah and spend as much time as possible there throughout the week. This year Sukkoth starts at sunset on October 16 and ends at sunset on October 23. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot for more information.
For Hindus, this is Sharad Purnima, also known as Kumara Purnima, Kojagari Purnima, Navanna Purnima Kojagrat Purnima, or Kaumudi Purnima. This is a harvest festival celebrated in a variety of ways. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharad_Purnima for more information.
For Buddhists, this Moon marks the end of Vassa, the three-month period of fasting for monks tied to the monsoons (Vassa is sometimes given the English names “Rains Retreat” or “Buddhist Lent”). There are numerous festivals and holy days associated with this Moon at the end of Vassa. Many Buddhists observe the holy day Pavarana on this day.
In Myanmar, this full Moon corresponds with the three-day Thadingyut Festival of Lights, also known as the Lighting Festival of Myanmar.
Also in Myanmar, this full Moon is near the end of the Phaung Daw U Pagoda Festival. This festival began on the first Waxing Moon day of the month of Thadingyut and will end a few days past this full Moon.
In Sri Lanka, this is Vap Poya, which is followed (usually within the lunar month) by the Kathina festival, during which people give gifts to the monks, particularly new robes (so this lunar month is sometimes called the Month of Robes).
In many traditional Moon-based calendars the full Moons fall on or near the middle of each month. This full Moon is near the middle of the ninth month of the Chinese year of the Dragon and Rabi’ al-Thani, also called Rabiʽ al-Akhir, the fourth month of the Islamic year.
As usual, the wearing of suitably celebratory celestial attire is encouraged in honor of the full Moon. Enjoy this harvest season, remember your ancestors, and consider camping out with your family. Here’s wishing you safe travels!
Summary of Key Celestial Events
Here are more celestial events between now and the full Moon after next (with specific times and angles based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.):
As Autumn continues the daily periods of sunlight continue shortening. On Thursday, Oct. 17, (the day of the full Moon), morning twilight will begin at 6:22 a.m. EDT, sunrise will be at 7:20 a.m., solar noon will be at 12:53 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 41.5 degrees, sunset will be at 6:26 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 7:24 p.m.. By Friday, Nov. 15, (the day of the full Moon after next), we will have switched from Daylight Saving to Standard Time. Morning twilight will begin at 5:51 a.m. EST, sunrise will be at 6:51 AM, solar noon will be at 11:53 a.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 32.4 degrees, sunset will be at 4:54 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 5:55 p.m.
This should be a good season for Saturn viewing, especially through a backyard telescope. Saturn was at its closest and brightest the night of September 7. It will be shifting west each evening, making it higher in the sky and friendlier for evening viewing (particularly for children with earlier bedtimes). Through a telescope you should be able to see Saturn’s bright moon Titan and its rings. The rings are appearing thinner and will be edge-on to the Earth by early 2025. We won’t get the “classic” view of Saturn with its rings again until 2026.
Comets
Two comets might be visible during this lunar cycle. For both of these comets I recommend paying attention to the news and checking out local astronomy websites, as we should have better forecasts of how these comets are behaving as we get closer to the opportunities for prime viewing. Particularly for the newly discovered Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), others (with newer information and better modeling tools) should be able to provide better guidance on when and where to look.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has already survived its close pass by the Sun and will be its closest to the Earth on October 12 (five days before the full Moon). After its closest approach it will be in the evening sky as twilight ends. If it continues on its current brightness curve it should be visible with binoculars and (under good conditions) with the unaided eye for at least a few evenings after the 12th, dimming as it moves away from the Sun and the Earth. On October 12, as evening twilight ends (at 7:31 p.m. EDT) the comet will be 4 degrees above the western horizon to the right of Venus (at an estimated visual magnitude of 2.9). As twilight ends on October 13 it will be 10 degrees above the western horizon (magnitude 3), 12 degrees on October 14 (magnitude 3.2), 16 degrees on October 15 (magnitude 3.3), etc. Current brightness curves predict it will dim to magnitude 6.2 by the end of October (nearing the edge of visibility with the unaided eye under dark and clear conditions).
Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) was discovered recently. It’s gotten a lot of attention because if it doesn’t break up as it approaches the Sun, it may become bright enough to see during the daytime. However, I want to avoid raising unrealistic expectations. From the information I’ve been able to find so far, I expect that at night this comet will only be visible with binoculars or a telescope, as its path will not bring it very close to the Earth. For the Washington, D.C. area (and similar latitudes) this comet will be above the horizon before morning twilight begins from now to October 21 as the comet falls towards the Sun. If it doesn’t break into pieces too small to see around closest approach, it should also be visible (with binoculars or a telescope) from November 2 to December 19 as the comet speeds away from the Sun.
However, it is a sungrazing comet and will be passing just a few solar radii from the surface of the Sun. This is so close that the sunlight will be more than 14,000 times brighter than at Earth. Sunlight this intense may cause it to break up and evaporate. But if it remains intact, based on the estimates I have while writing this, the comet will be bright enough to see during the daylight for about an hour or two around closest approach.
One brightness model estimates this comet will be brighter than magnitude -5 from 7:12 a.m. to 8:06 a.m. EDT. Based on this timing, Africa, Europe, and South America are best situated to see this daylight comet. From the East Coast of North America the comet at its brightest will be to the lower left of the Sun just after sunrise, which means we will be viewing it through more air, increasing the chance of interference from scattered sunlight and clouds.
To look for this comet during the short period when it is very close to the Sun, find out for your location which side of the Sun the comet will be on, then find something to block the Sun (e.g., a house or building, etc., the farther away the better) so you can look for the comet without staring at the Sun. Be careful and plan ahead, as it may be difficult to find a location that has both a clear view to the right part of the east-southeastern horizon and a large overhanging object to block the Sun while allowing you to see to the lower left of the Sun. I strongly recommend AGAINST using binoculars or a telescope because accidentally using high powered lenses to focus intense sunlight into your eyes is a blindingly bad idea.
If you are interested, here is some more background on Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS). Otherwise, skip this paragraph. This comet was discovered on Sept. 27, 2024, by one of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescopes in Hawaii. This comet’s orbit suggests it is part of a family of comets called Kreutz sungrazers that pass very close to the Sun. These comets are thought to be fragments of a large sungrazing comet, the Great Comet of 1106, that broke up as it swung around the Sun 918 years ago. This 1106 comet might itself be a fragment of an even larger sungrazing comet, possibly the Great Comet of 371 BC (also known as Aristotle’s Comet). This comet was so bright it cast shadows at night like the full Moon. Several other members of this comet family have been great comets, including the Great Comet of 1843 and the Great Comet of 1882. The most recent great comet from this family was Comet Ikeya–Seki in 1965. Since its launch in 1995, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite has observed more than 4000 smaller Kreutz sungrazers, some only a few meters across, with none of these smaller comets surviving their close pass by the Sun.
Meteor Showers
Five meteor showers are predicted to peak during this lunar cycle. Three meteor showers peak between October 18 and 24 when the light of the waning Moon will interfere, the most significant being the Orionids peaking on October 21. While the Orionids tend to be brighter than average and to peak at about 20 meteors per hour (under ideal conditions), the light of the waning gibbous Moon will make these harder to see this year, especially from our light-polluted urban areas. Two minor meteor showers will peak in early November. These showers are the Southern Taurids (peaking at 7 meteors per hour on November 5) and the Northern Taurids (peaking at 5 meteors per hour on November 12). These showers overlap to produce their highest combined rate around November 5, but this rate is low enough that seeing these meteors from urban locations will be difficult.
Evening Sky Highlights
On the evening of Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024 (the evening of the full Moon), as twilight ends (at 7:24 p.m. EDT), the rising Moon will be 9 degrees above the eastern horizon. Saturn will be 27 degrees above the southeastern horizon. Bright Venus will be 6 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will be to the upper right of Venus at 22 degrees above the western horizon (at a visual magnitude of 3.7 if it continues to follow its current brightness curve). The bright star closest to overhead will be Deneb at 80 degrees above the northeastern horizon. Deneb (visual magnitude 1.3) is the 19th brightest star in our night sky and is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the swan. Deneb is one of the three bright stars of the “Summer Triangle” (along with Vega and Altair). Deneb is about 20 times more massive than our Sun but has used up its hydrogen, becoming a blue-white supergiant about 200 times the diameter of the Sun. If Deneb were where our Sun is, it would extend to about the orbit of the Earth. Deneb is about 2,600 light years from us.
As this lunar cycle progresses, Saturn and the background of stars will appear to shift westward each evening (as the Earth moves around the Sun). Bright Venus will shift to the left along the southwestern horizon in the opposite direction as the stars, passing above the bright star Antares (they will appear 3 degrees apart at their closest on October 25). October 21 will be the first evening the planet Mercury will be above the west-southwestern horizon 30 minutes after sunset (an estimate of when it will first be visible in the glow of dusk). The waxing Moon will pass by Antares on November 3, Venus on November 4, and Saturn on November 10. November 11 will be when Mercury will first appear above the horizon as twilight ends.
By the evening of Friday, November 15 (the evening of the full Moon after next), as twilight ends at 5:55 p.m. EST, the rising Moon will be 14 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon with the Pleiades star cluster 5 degrees to the lower left. The brightest planet in the sky will be Venus at 12 degrees above the southwestern horizon. Next in brightness will be Mercury at less than a degree above the west-southwestern horizon. Saturn will be 38 degrees above the south-southeastern horizon. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will be 39 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon, with its current brightness curve predicting it will have faded to magnitude 8, too faint to see with the unaided eye. The bright star closest to overhead will still be Deneb at 79 degrees above the northwestern horizon.
Morning Sky Highlights
On the morning of Thursday, October 17, 2024 (the morning of the full Moon), as twilight begins at 6:22 a.m. EDT, the setting Moon will be 11 degrees above the western horizon. The brightest planet in the sky will be Jupiter at 63 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. Mars will be at 72 degrees above the south-southeastern horizon. Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) will be 6 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon but will likely be too dim to be seen without a telescope (current projection, magnitude 12.7). The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Pollux, the 17th brightest star in our night sky and the brighter of the twin stars in the constellation Gemini, at 75 degrees above the southeastern horizon. Pollux is an orange tinted star about 34 lightyears from Earth. It is not quite twice the mass of our Sun but about 9 times the diameter and 33 times the brightness.
As this lunar cycle progresses, Jupiter, Mars, and the background of stars will appear to shift westward each evening. Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), visible with binoculars or a telescope, will brighten but shift lower as it races towards the Sun, with October 21 the last morning it will be above the horizon as morning twilight begins (estimated magnitude of 11.2). The waning Moon will pass by the Pleiades star cluster on October 19, Jupiter on October 21, Mars and Pollux on October 23, Regulus on October 26, and Spica on October 31. Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) will pass its closest to the Sun on the morning of October 28 (when, if the sky is very clear, it might be bright enough to see in the daylight for an hour or so around 7:39 a.m.). If this comet survives its close pass by the Sun, it may reemerge in the morning sky. November 2 will be the first morning it will be above the horizon as morning twilight begins (with an estimated magnitude of 10.5, visible with binoculars or a telescope).
By the morning of Friday, November 15 (the morning of the full Moon after next), as twilight begins (at 5:51 a.m. EST), the setting full Moon will be 7 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon. The brightest planet in the sky will be Jupiter at 35 degrees above the western horizon. Mars will be at 68 degrees above the southwestern horizon. Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) will be 13 degrees above the southeastern horizon (estimated magnitude 14.2). The bright star appearing closest to overhead will still be Pollux at 69 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon (higher than Mars by about a half degree).
Detailed Daily Guide
.Here for your reference is a day-by-day listing of celestial events between now and the full Moon on October 17, 2024. The times and angles are based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C, and some of these details may differ for where you are (I use parentheses to indicate times specific to the D.C. area). If your latitude is significantly different than 39 degrees north (and especially for my Southern Hemisphere readers), I recommend using an astronomy app or a star-watching guide from a local observatory, news outlet, or astronomy club.
Saturday morning, October 12: At 11:10 a.m. EDT, Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will be at its closest to Earth. Although it will be on the horizon as evening twilight ends the evening before (Friday), it may be hard to see. Our first chance to see it above the horizon as evening twilight ends (at 7:31 PM) will likely be Saturday evening, when the comet will be 4 degrees above the western horizon, similar in altitude and to the right of Venus.
As of September 28 this comet is still following a brightness curve that predicts it to be quite bright near closest approach and remain visible to unaided human eyes (under clear dark sky conditions) through the end of October. How bright the comet will be and how quickly it actually dims will depend upon the gas and dust it is giving off, which can vary quickly and unpredictably, but it should be an impressive show in the evenings after October 12.
The comet will likely dim as it moves away from the Earth, but also appear higher in the sky and set later each evening, giving us more time and darker skies to look for it. As evening twilight ends on October 13 it will be 10 degrees above the western horizon, 12 degrees on October 14, 16 degrees on October 15, etc. Current brightness curves predict it will still be around magnitude 6 by the end of October (still visible to the unaided eye under good conditions).
Monday evening, October 14: The planet Saturn will appear near the waxing gibbous Moon. As evening twilight ends (at 7:28 p.m. EDT) Saturn will be 4 degrees to the upper right. The Moon will reach its highest for the night about 3.5 hours later (at 10:53 p.m.) with Saturn 5 degrees to the lower right. The pair will continue to separate, with Saturn setting first 5 hours after that (at 4:09 a.m.). For parts of Southern Asia and Africa the Moon will block Saturn from view.
Wednesday evening, October 16: At 8:57 p.m. EDT (CSG 8:47), the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit.
As mentioned above, the full Moon will be Thursday morning, Oct. 17, at 7:26 a.m. EDT. This will be late Wednesday night for the International Date Line West time zone and early Friday morning from New Zealand Time eastwards to the International Date Line. This will be the third of four consecutive supermoons (and the brightest by a tiny margin). The Moon will appear full for about 3 days around this time, from Tuesday evening through Friday morning.
Saturday night into Sunday morning, October 19 to 20: The Pleiades star cluster will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. At moonrise (7:42 p.m. EDT) on the east-northeastern horizon the Pleiades will be 3 degrees to the upper right. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 3:28 a.m., the Pleiades will be 7 degrees to the lower right.
Sunday night into Monday morning, October 20 to 21: The planet Jupiter will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. As Jupiter rises on the east-northeastern horizon at 9:08 p.m. EDT, it will be 6 degrees to the lower right of the Moon. As the Moon reaches its highest in the sky at 4:29 a.m., Jupiter will be 6 degrees below the Moon, and it will be to the lower left by the time morning twilight begins at 6:26 a.m.
As mentioned above, the Orionid meteor shower will peak the early morning of Monday, October 21. Conditions are not good as moonlight will interfere with seeing these meteors, but if you happen to be out keep an eye on the sky, as you might see a meteor or two.
For the Washington DC area and similar latitudes, Monday morning, October 21: This will be the last morning Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), visible with binoculars or a telescope (estimated magnitude 11.2), will be above the horizon as morning twilight begins (at 6:27 AM EDT) as it rushes towards its close passage by the Sun a week later.
Monday evening, October 21: This will be the first evening the planet Mercury will be above the west-southwestern horizon 30 minutes after sunset (an estimate of when it will start being visible in the glow of dusk).
Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, October 22 to 23: The waning gibbous Moon, the bright star Pollux, and the planet Mars will form a triangle in the night sky. As Pollux rises on the northeastern horizon at 11 p.m. EDT, it will be 8 degrees to the lower left of the Moon. Mars will rise below the Moon 30 minutes later at 11:30 p.m. As the Moon reaches its highest for the night and morning twilight begins at 6:28 a.m., Pollux will be 4 degrees to the upper left and Mars will be 7 degrees to the lower left of the Moon.
Thursday morning, October 24: The waning Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its last quarter at 4:03 a.m. EDT.
If you find you are having trouble waking up in late October and early November, the dark mornings may be the reason (or at least a plausible excuse). Since 2007 when Congress moved the start of Daylight Saving Time from the end of October to the beginning of November, the latest sunrises of the year have been in late October and early November. In 2024, for the Washington, D.C. area and similar latitudes, the time of sunrise (in EDT) from Thursday, October 24 to Saturday, November 2 will be later than the latest sunrise of winter at 7:27 a.m. EST on January 5.
In the evening sky during this lunar cycle the bright planet Venus will be shifting to the upper left along the southwestern horizon in the opposite direction as the background of stars.
Friday, October 25: This will be when Venus and the bright star Antares will pass at their closest, with Antares 3 degrees to the lower left of Venus.
Saturday morning, October 26: The bright star Regulus will appear below the waning crescent Moon. As Regulus rises on the east-northeastern horizon at 2:15 a.m. EDT, it will be 5 degrees below the Moon. Morning twilight will begin more than 4 hours later at 6:31 a.m. with Regulus 4 degrees to the lower right of the Moon.
Monday morning, October 28: At about 7:39 a.m. EDT, Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) will pass its closest to the Sun. If the sky is very clear, it might be bright enough to see in the daylight for an hour or so around closest approach. For the Washington, D.C. area, closest approach will only be 7 minutes after sunrise, so our only chance of seeing this is if the sky on the east-southeastern horizon is unusually clear. The comet will be to the lower left of the Sun, and since the tail points away from the Sun, it may be hidden by the horizon until the comet rises higher in the sky. Europe, Africa, and South America are better positioned to look for this comet near the Sun. Be careful and plan ahead, as it may be difficult to find a location that has both a clear view to the right part of the east-southeastern horizon and a large overhanging object to block the Sun while allowing you to see to the lower left of the Sun.
Pay attention to the news as the predictions may change, but the brightness predictions I have as of writing this are that this comet will be brighter than magnitude -5 until 8:06 a.m. (when the Sun will be 5.6 degrees above the horizon). Magnitude -4 is generally considered the brightness limit for visibility of an object during the day, and the comet is predicted to be above this magnitude until 8:39 AM, but because it will be close to the Sun it is hard to say what the actual visibility limit will be, as the glare near the Sun depends on atmospheric conditions and can be quite bright.
Tuesday, October 29: At 6:51 p.m. EDT, the Moon will be at apogee, its farthest from the Earth for this orbit.
Thursday morning, October 31: You might be able to see the thin, waxing crescent Moon low on the east-southeastern horizon 3.5 degrees to the lower left of the bright star Spica. You will need to look for them in the glow of dawn, as the Moon will rise at 6:43 a.m. EDT 7 minutes after twilight begins at 6:36 a.m.
Thursday, October 31, is Halloween: We currently divide the year into four seasons based upon the solstices and equinoxes, with winter beginning on the winter solstice in December. This approximates winter as the quarter of the year with the coldest temperatures. Much of pre-Christian northern Europe celebrated “cross-quarter days” halfway between the solstices and equinoxes, and divided the seasons on these days. Using this older definition, winter was the quarter of the year with the shortest daily periods of daylight, with autumn ending and winter beginning on Samhain, traditionally celebrated on October 31st or November 1st (the middle of our fall). Our Halloween customs are thought to have come from these earlier celebrations of fall’s end and winter’s start.
Friday morning, November 1, at 8:47 AM EDT: This will be the new Moon, when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from the Earth. This new Moon is considered the darkest night of the Hindu lunisolar calendar. Diwali or Divali, also known as Dipawali or Deepavali, is an important five or six day festival of lights centered on this new Moon, celebrated by Hindus and other faiths including Jains, Sikhs, and Newar Buddhists. The name comes from the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) celebrants light to symbolize the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness. Lakshmi Puja or Kali Puja, venerating the goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi, is the central day of the festival (November 1 this year). It is a public holiday in many countries with large Hindu, Sikh, and/or Jain populations, including Fiji, Guyana, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The day of or the day after the New Moon: This marks the start of the new month for most lunisolar calendars. The tenth month of the Chinese year of the Dragon starts on Friday, November 1. Sundown on Friday, November 1, marks the start of Marcheshvan in the Hebrew calendar, a name often shortened to Cheshvan or Heshvan.
If Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) survives its close pass by the Sun, Saturday, November 2, will be the first morning it will be above the horizon as morning twilight begins at 6:38 a.m. EDT, appearing with an estimated magnitude of 10.5 (only visible with binoculars or a telescope).
Because of Daylight Saving Time, Saturday morning, November 2, will be the latest sunrise of the year. Morning twilight will begin at 6:38 a.m. EDT, sunrise will be at 7:37 a.m., solar noon will be at 12:51 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 35.1 degrees, sunset will be at 6:06 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 7:05 p.m.
In the Islamic calendar the months traditionally start with the first sighting of the waxing crescent Moon. Many Muslim communities now follow the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia, which uses astronomical calculations to start months in a more predictable way. Using this calendar, sundown on Saturday, November 2, will probably mark the beginning of Jumādā al-ʾŪlā.
Early on Sunday morning, November 3: We “Fall Back” from 1:59 a.m. EDT to 1 a.m. EST. While most of us will be gaining an hour of sleep, if you want to do something for 2 hours but are only supposed to do it for one, consider doing it for the “clock hour” from 1 a.m. EDT to 2 a.m. EST. Be careful though, as about twice as many accidents tend to happen during this “clock hour” compared to other mornings of the year! Regardless, on Sunday morning you will need to reset any clocks that didn’t reset themselves! On Sunday, twilight will begin at 5:39 a.m. EST, sunrise will be at 6:38 a.m., solar noon will be at 11:51 a.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 35.8 degrees, sunset will be at 5:05 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 6:04 p.m.
It may be difficult to see, but on Sunday evening, November 3, the bright star Antares will appear 2 degrees above the thin, waxing crescent Moon. You will need to look for the Moon in the glow of dusk as it will set on the southwestern horizon just 1 minute after evening twilight ends (at 6:04 p.m. EST).
Monday evening, November 4: The bright planet Venus will appear 4 degrees to the upper right of the thin, waxing crescent Moon. The Moon will be 6 degrees above the southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends at 6:03 p.m. EST, and will set first 46 minutes later at 6:49 p.m.
Tuesday morning, November 5: Two minor meteor showers, the Southern Taurids (peaking at 7 meteors per hour on November 5) and the Northern Taurids (peaking at 5 meteors per hour on November 12), overlap to produce their highest combined rate. Although the light of the waxing crescent Moon will not interfere, even this combined rate will be low enough to make seeing these meteors from urban areas difficult due to light pollution. Still, if you are out after midnight and the sky is clear, you might see a meteor or two.
Early Saturday morning, November 9: The Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its first quarter at 12:56 a.m. EST.
In the evenings during much of this lunar cycle, the planet Mercury will be shifting to the upper left along the southwestern horizon, moving in the opposite direction from the background of stars. On Saturday and Sunday evenings, November 9 and 10, Mercury and the bright star Antares will pass their closest, less than 2 degrees apart, with Antares to the lower left of Mercury. You will need to look low on the southwestern horizon while dusk is in the sky, as they both will have set by the time evening twilight ends.
Saturday evening into early Sunday morning, November 9 to 10: The planet Saturn will appear near the waxing gibbous Moon. As evening twilight ends at 5:58 p.m. EST, Saturn will be 2 degrees to the upper left. The Moon will reach its highest point for the night about 1 hour 45 minutes later at 7:43 p.m., with Saturn 1 degree to the upper left. For the Washington, D.C. area, Saturn will be at its closest, about 0.1 degree to the upper right of the Moon, at about 9:55 p.m. (times and angles will differ for different locations). For the southern tip if Florida and parts of the Caribbean, Central America, and Northwestern South America, the Moon will block Saturn from view. The Moon will continue passing by Saturn, with Saturn setting first on the western horizon a little less than 3.5 hours later at 1:19 a.m.
Monday evening, November 11: This will be the first evening that the planet Mercury will be above the west-southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends at 5:57 p.m. EST.
Thursday morning, November 14: At 6:18 EST, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit.
The full Moon after next will be Friday afternoon, November 15, 2024 at 4:29 PM EST. This will be early Saturday morning from Kamchatka and Fiji Time eastwards to the International Date Line. This will be the last of four consecutive supermoons. The Pleiades star cluster will appear near the full Moon. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from a few hours before sunrise Thursday morning into a few hours before sunrise Sunday morning.
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