NASA Calls The Full Cold Moon ‘The Child Moon’: When To See It In New York

NEW YORK — Skies over New York should be mostly cloudy on Sunday morning when the last full moon of the year reaches peak illumination at 4:02 a.m. Eastern Time, according to accuweather.com.

December’s full cold moon will appear bright for a couple of days on either side of reaching peak illumination on Dec. 15. The National Weather Service forecast for New York through early next week calls for a mostly clear night sky Thursday and Friday, while Saturday will be partly cloudy and Sunday mostly cloudy with a chance of snow.

This month’s full moon is called the cold moon because it occurs as nights turn cold and long, according to NASA. Meteorological winter began Dec.1, but the solstice on Saturday, Dec. 21, is the astronomical start of winter.

Other names for the December full moon include the frost moon, the winter moon and the moon before Yule. NASA has a different name for it: the child moon, according to Gordon Johnston, a retired program executive and now volunteer writer for the agency’s monthly skywatching guides.

Five years ago, the term was coined by 7-year-old Astrid Hattenbach as she walked home with her father, Henry Throop, Johnston’s friend and former colleague.

“You know what this Moon is called?” Astrid said to her dad, according to Johnston’s account. “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.”

Johnston thought the name was perfect — and not just because he appreciated the wonder it evoked in a child.

This year, at least for Washington, D.C., and similar latitudes, the earliest evenings with a full or nearly full moon in the sky will be Friday through Sunday, with sunset around 4:44 p.m. Eastern Time and evening twilight ending around 5:50 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Johnston wrote.

The full moon occurs a day after the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, which NASA says is hands-down the best shooting star show of the year. Under ideal conditions, up to 120 of the bright, fast, yellowish-colored are visible.

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The year closes out with the Ursid meteor shower, which runs Dec. 17-26 and peaks Dec. 22-23. The moon will still be bright at about 54 percent illumination, and that may interfere with viewing after midnight until dawn. At their peak, the Ursids produce about five or 10 shooting stars an hour. The shower is produced by dust grains left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle, discovered in 1790.

Shooting star seekers, take note: 2025 starts with another stunner, the prolific Quadrantids, which under perfect conditions can produce as many as 200 meteors an hour at their Jan. 4 peak. The shower runs Dec. 26-Jan. 16. Most meteor showers have a two-day peak, but the peak of the Quadrantids is only a few hours, according to NASA, which calls it “one of the best annual meteor showers.”

The Quadrantids are rich in bright fireballs, larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak.

• Related: Geminids, Solstice, Full Cold Moon Top December Celestial Calendar