Space
Look Out For Rare Full Moon On Christmas Day
Rosanna Singh
First Posted: Dec 18, 2015 10:19 AM EST
Watch out for a full moon on Christmas! This year nature has added an extra gift for the holidays, where a bright full moon will appear in the Christmas night skies for the first time since 1977.
The last full moon of the year appears in December and is known as the "Full Cold Moon" since it is visible during at the start of the winter season. This year the moon peak will occur at 6:11 a.m. EST, according to a NASA report. A full moon for Christmas is quite a rare event and according to researchers this event would not occur again until 2034, which is a long wait, so it's worth a while to look out for the full on Christmas Day.
"As we look at the moon on such an occasion, it's worth remembering that the moon is more than just a celestial neighbor," John Keller from the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said in a news release. "The geologic history of the moon and Earth are intimately tied together such that the Earth would be a dramatically different planet without the moon."
NASA has a spacecraft that is currently orbiting the moon, which can be taken into consideration when you're looking up at the Christmas moon. The NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission has been observing lunar surface since 2009, where they have gathered an immense amount of moon and lunar-related data.
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TagsSolar System, space, Full Moon, Moon, NASA, Christmas, sky, Astronomers, astronomy, Asteroid, Stars, Planet, Galaxy, Galaxies ©2017 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
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First Posted: Dec 18, 2015 10:19 AM EST
Watch out for a full moon on Christmas! This year nature has added an extra gift for the holidays, where a bright full moon will appear in the Christmas night skies for the first time since 1977.
The last full moon of the year appears in December and is known as the "Full Cold Moon" since it is visible during at the start of the winter season. This year the moon peak will occur at 6:11 a.m. EST, according to a NASA report. A full moon for Christmas is quite a rare event and according to researchers this event would not occur again until 2034, which is a long wait, so it's worth a while to look out for the full on Christmas Day.
"As we look at the moon on such an occasion, it's worth remembering that the moon is more than just a celestial neighbor," John Keller from the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said in a news release. "The geologic history of the moon and Earth are intimately tied together such that the Earth would be a dramatically different planet without the moon."
NASA has a spacecraft that is currently orbiting the moon, which can be taken into consideration when you're looking up at the Christmas moon. The NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission has been observing lunar surface since 2009, where they have gathered an immense amount of moon and lunar-related data.
Related Articles
Asteroid Will Pass Earth On Christmas Eve
Exploding Star: Hubble Catches First-Ever Image
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone