Last full moon of 2020: the ‘Cold Moon’ peaks around the world TONIGHT and appears in the sky for more than 15 hours
- The last full moon of 2020 will peak around the world on Tuesday evening
- It is called the ‘Cold Moon’ because it appears when winter starts to fall
- The full moon will rise at 4:19 p.m. ET and peak with illumination at 10:30 p.m. ET
- This full moon is also called the ‘Long Night Moon’ or the ‘Moon Before Yule’
Space will give Earth one last gift this year: the last full moon of 2020.
The ‘Cold Moon’ will rise from the northeast sky at 4:19 PM ET (9:19 PM GMT), with peak lighting Tuesday evening at 10:30 PM ET (3:30 PM GMT).
The nickname comes from the Indian tribe the Mohwaks and refers to the falling temperatures in December, which means that winter has arrived.
The moon is in the sky for more than 15 hours from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, making it the longest full moon of the year.
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The ‘Cold Moon’ will rise from the northeast sky at 4:19 PM ET (9:19 PM GMT), with peak lighting Tuesday evening at 10:30 PM ET (3:30 PM GMT). Depicted is the full moon in St. Petersburg, Russia
NASA’s Gordon Johnston wrote in a recent blog post, “ This year, moonlight will interfere with seeing the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, which is expected to be active from December 28, 2020 to January 12, 2021, peaking on the morning of January 3, 2021. ‘
The last full moon of the year has different names depending on your location.
It is also called the Full Long Night’s Moon, which refers to “the midwinter night is long indeed and because the moon is long above the horizon,” according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
“The midwinter full moon travels high across the sky because it faces a low sun.”
The nickname comes from the Native American Mohwaks tribe and refers to the falling temperatures in December, which means that winter has arrived. Pictured is the full moon hovering over Maryland
Another nickname comes to European pagans who called it the moon before Yule.
This full moon was a celebration of the winter solstice that marks the beginning of winter.
In the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed, the full December moon is often referred to as the Strawberry Moon, Honey Moon, or Rose Moon.
Johnston notes that it could also be referred to as the Chang’e Moon, following on from China’s three successful lunar lands launched around this time of year.
“These missions take their name from the Chinese goddess of the moon, Chang’e, who lived on the moon with her pet rabbit, Yutu,” writes Johnston.
“The Chang’e 3 lander and its companion Yutu-rover launched on December 1 and landed on the moon on December 14, 2013.”
The moon is in the sky for more than 15 hours from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, making it the longest full moon of the year. The moon setting behind a hill on the morning of December 29 in Chile
Pictured is an image from NASA showing what the moon will look like on the evening of Dec. 29
“The Chang’e 4 lander and its companion Yutu-2 rover launched on December 7, 2018 and landed on January 3, 2019.”
The Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission launched on November 23 (in UTC, November 24 in China’s time zone) and returned its samples to Earth on December 16, 2020, the lunar samples’ first return to humanity since 1976 . ‘
The moon will appear full until Thursday morning and the next time a full moon appears on January 28, which is called the ‘Full Wolf Moon’.
SCIENTISTS DON’T AGREE ON HOW THE MOON WAS FORMED, BUT MANY BELIEVE IT WAS THE RESULT OF AN IMPACT BETWEEN THE EARTH AND ANOTHER PLANET
Many researchers believe that the Moon was created after Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago.
This is called the giant impact hypothesis.
The theory suggests that the moon is made up of debris left over from a collision between our planet and a body about 4.5 billion years ago.
The colliding body is sometimes called Theia, after the mythical Greek Titan who was the mother of Selene, the goddess of the moon.
Many researchers believe that the Moon was created after Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago. This is called the giant impact hypothesis
But one mystery has persisted, revealed by rocks brought from the moon by the Apollo astronauts: Why are the Moon and Earth so similar in composition?
Over the years, several theories have emerged to explain the similar fingerprints of the Earth and Moon.
Perhaps the impact created a huge cloud of debris that thoroughly mixed with the Earth and later condensed to form the Moon.
Or Theia could, coincidentally, be chemically similar to the young Earth.
A third possibility is that the Moon was formed from earthen materials, rather than from Theia, although this would have been a very unusual type of impact.