The cold moon, the last supermoon of the year, is visible tonight

CNN Keep your eyes high in the sky this week to see the last supermoon of the year December s full supermoon also called the cold moon will be at its fullest around p m ET Thursday according to EarthSky On Thursday the moon will rise right around sunset time and that s why it s full because it s exactly opposite in the sky from where the sun is commented Noah Petro project scientist for NASA s Artemis III mission which aims to land astronauts near the lunar south pole in The moon also will appear full on Wednesday and Friday nights This will be the last of three back-to-back supermoons this year A supermoon happens when the moon reaches perigee or its nearest point to our planet making it appear larger and fuller The moniker cold moon indicates that it s the full moon event closest to the winter solstice the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere The solstice which will occur on December marks the beginning of winter in the hemisphere Indigenous tribes have various monikers for December s full moon For example the Cherokee people call it the snow moon while the Abenaki tribe refers to it as the winter maker moon The brightness of these supermoons in the winter especially when it s really cold like it is now I think can be enhanced because the trees aren t blocking the light Petro explained Remembering the Apollo missions December s full moon occurs close to the anniversaries of the historic Apollo and Apollo missions Apollo launched on December and sent a crew of three astronauts into lunar orbit The astronauts shared a special holiday message from space on Christmas Eve Apollo which launched on December marked the last time astronauts landed on the lunar surface December s full moon also occurs ahead of the launch of Artemis II anticipated between February and April which will send a crew of four astronauts on a -day journey around the moon I would encourage folks to go out this week go look at the moon bask in its glory Think back to what we did in and with Apollo and Apollo and then turn the corner and say hey we re just maybe two full moons away from sending humans back to fly past the moon and get a close-up view of the lunar surface from Artemis II Petro mentioned Upcoming celestial events Here are the peak dates of the final two meteor showers of the year according to the American Meteor Society and EarthSky Geminids December - Ursids December - The-CNN-Wire Cable News Framework Inc a Warner Bros Discovery Company All rights reserved