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Matt Mikus

Night sky watching? Last full moon of the year and a meteor shower peak

An image of the full moon
The "Supermoon" full moon rises on February 19, 2019.
Norberto Duarte | AFP via Getty Images File

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The last full moon of the decade will become 100 percent full on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 11:12 p.m. Central time.

While the Farmer’s Almanac might tease a bit of superstition for Eastern time zone stargazers, it’s not an issue for the rest of us.

This full moon is sometimes referred to as the “Long Night Moon” or the “Full Cold Moon” since the midwinter night is longer than the other full moon nights we experience. (After we hit the winter solstice Saturday, Dec. 21, we’ll start gaining daylight.)

But that’s not the only celestial event we can look forward to this week.

Geminid meteor shower in northern Italy
A photographer prepares to take pictures of the annual Geminid meteor shower.
Marco Bertorello | AFP | Getty Images

The Geminid meteor shower peaks on Friday night and Saturday morning.

The source of the meteors? A rock comet called 3200 Phaethon, according to EarthSky.

Orbit of 3200 Phaethon asteroid
The asteroid 3200 Phaethon orbit is elliptical, and crosses the orbits of Earth and passes close to the sun. The asteroid is the source of the annual Geminid meteor shower.
Courtesy of EarthSky.org

On a dark night, it’s possible to spot up to 50 or more meteors per hour when the Geminid shower is at its peak. Unfortunately, the bright moonlight that night will likely make it harder to spot as many.

Correction: (Dec. 12, 2019): This story originally had the wrong date for when the full moon would reach its peak Central time.