Skywatchers are in for a surprising spectacle this week when the second-biggest full moon of 2025, the Chilly Supermoon, rises within the east at nightfall and seems increased within the night time sky than every other full moon of the yr.
Formally full at 6:14 p.m. EST on Thursday (Dec. 4), the moon will rise within the east throughout the constellation Taurus. Though the moon is technically full at a selected second, it is most visually spectacular on the time of moonrise the place you’re, when it seems largest close to the horizon.
December’s Chilly Moon all the time climbs increased within the sky than every other full moon of the yr. Because the winter solstice nears on Dec. 21 within the Northern Hemisphere, the solar seems at its lowest within the sky through the day. In distinction, the total moon — which, by definition, is reverse the solar — rises to its highest at night time.
Based on The Previous Farmer’s Almanac, Native American names for December’s full moon embrace the Frost Exploding Bushes Moon (Cree), the Moon of the Popping Bushes (Oglala), the Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers (Dakota), the Winter Maker Moon (Western Abenaki), the Chilly Moon (Mohawk) and the Lengthy Evening Moon (Mohican). The latter comes from this full moon’s closeness to the winter solstice, which happens on Dec. 21 this yr. Previous English and Anglo-Saxon names for December’s full moon are the Moon Earlier than Xmas and the Lengthy Evening Moon, based on Time and Date.
The following full moon would be the Wolf Moon on Jan. 3, 2026, the fourth and last supermoon in a row. Will probably be the primary of 13 full moons in 2026, due to a Blue Moon — the second full moon in a calendar month — occurring in Might 2026.
