Winter trifecta: Solstice, full moon, meteor shower

[seemslikeadream]

The many names of the full cold moon coming soon to skies near you

Ephrat Livni
December 18, 2018
Full Cold Moon 2015.
NASA

The full cold moon is a lunation with many names.
Winter is coming to the Northern Hemisphere, and the heavens have quite a spectacle planned for the occasion.

On Dec. 21, the arrival of the winter solstice, the moon will form a conjunction with the bright star Aldebaran—with the two celestial bodies meeting and passing each other—on the same night as the year’s only Ursid meteor shower. The following night, the “full cold moon” will rise in the skies. A heavenly event quite like this won’t happen again until 2094, which is the next time the last full moon of the year coincides with the official start of the cold season.

Indeed, the full cold moon gets its name because of the weather. The Farmer’s Almanac referred to the last full moon of the year by this name because that’s what some Native Americans called it, given winter came with it. But around the world and over time, the occurrence has had a plethora of names, many of them very descriptive.

According to NASA, the last full moon of the year, when it coincides with the winter solstice, was also called the Long Night Moon by some Native Americans, as it occurred on the longest night of the year. The full moon at this time takes a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite to the low sun, so the moon will be above the horizon longer than at other times of the year, NASA explains.

In the Pacific Northwest, the Haida tribe called December’s full moon the snow moon, or Ta’aaw Kungaay. The Tlingit of Alaska called it Shanáx Dís, meaning “unborn seals are getting hair,” according to the Tlingit Moon and Tide Teaching Resource. And the Hopi, who lived mostly in what’s now known as Arizona, called this the Sparrow-Hawk moon, the Journal of Mathematical Culture (pdf) reports.

The Ojibwe people from the region now known as Ontario, Canada called it Mnidoons Giizis, meaning the big spirit moon or blue moon. “Its purpose is to purify us, and to heal all of Creation,” according to the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition (pdf, p. 11), which teaches First Nation languages. The same text explains that the Cree people referred to December’s full moon as Thithikopiwipisim, meaning the hoar frost moon of the “month when frost sticks to leaves and other things outside.”

In China’s traditional lunar calendar, the December lunation is called Dōngyuè, meaning “winter month,” and it marked the seasonal solstice. In Europe, the celestial event was historically called the “moon before Yule,” a reference to an old northern European winter festival that’s now associated with Christmas.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, where December is a summer month, the Māori people of New Zealand called the lunation Hakihea, meaning “birds are now sitting in their nests.“

Whatever you call this year’s very special full cold moon, do look skyward and reflect on this distant friend who influences our lives and has for all of time. “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 of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said in 2015, when the full moon came at Christmas. “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.”
https://qz.com/1498579/the-many-names-o ... -near-you/

Winter trifecta: Solstice, full moon, meteor shower on Friday, Saturday
POSTED 3:56 PM, DECEMBER 20, 2018, BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE


There will be a winter trifecta the next few days with the winter solstice, a full moon and a meteor shower.

The winter solstice—when the Earth’s titled axis is facing its farthest from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere—happens at 3:23 p.m. Friday and marks the start of winter.

Friday will also be the day with the least amount of daylight. Starting Saturday, daylight will gradually extend each day until the summer solstice in June.

Winter Solstice

The full moon -- dubbed the Cold Moon -- happens at 10:49 a.m. Saturday, but it will appear to be full for several days, including on the day of the solstice.

The last time the full moon coincided with the winter solstice was in 2010. The next time it will happen will be in 2094.

The Ursid meteor shower is expected to take place on Friday and Saturday nights.

The American Meteor Society says at the peak, there should be about 11 sporadic meteors per hour just before dawn.

The shower gets its name because meteors appear to emanate from Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper. But because of the full moon, it might be hard to spot the meteors.

Also just before sunrise Friday in the southeast sky, Mercury and Jupiter will be in conjunction.

They will be 0.9 degrees apart, which is about two moon-diameters. They will be visible in a bright twilight.

[Pele'sDaughter]

https://earthsky.org/?p=294160


If you set your alarm for the final morning of the year – December 31, 2018 – you’ll find an extra-special view in the east before sunrise. The moon and three planets will be beautifully aligned across the early morning sky on December 31. In their order from top to bottom, you’ll see the waning crescent moon, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. That also happens to be their order in brightness: the moon brightest, then Venus, then Jupiter and finally Mercury. Given clear skies, you should have no problem catching the moon, Venus and Jupiter, rising before dawn’s first light.

Mercury may be another story. It’ll climb above the horizon as darkness begins to give way to dawn. As the faintest of these worlds, and as the lowest in the sky, it’ll be the toughest to spot.

How can you find Mercury? Note that the lit side of the lunar crescent points down into the line up of planets in the morning sky. Look for Mercury close to the horizon, along line with the moon, Venus and Jupiter, with the unaided eye or binoculars.

Given an unobstructed horizon, people around the world might be able to spot Mercury near the sunrise point on the horizon an hour (or more) before sunrise. Mercury is actually brighter than a 1st-magnitude star right now, so it’s indeed possible to see this world with the unaided eye.

Again, though, Mercury is low in the dawn sky. If you can’t see it with the eye alone, by all means use binoculars – if you have them – to spot it in the glow of morning twilight.

Then keep watching. The moon will be moving down past this line of planets in the east in the mornings ahead:

Here’s a sky trick. The illuminated side of a waning crescent moon always points eastward, or in the direction of sunrise.

Moreover, the lit side of waning crescent points in the direction of the moon’s daily motion relative to the backdrop stars and planets of the zodiac. That direction is also east.

During the first several mornings of the 2019, look for the waning (shrinking) moon to swing by Venus first, Jupiter next and finally Mercury. Click here for a chart showing the mornings of January 1-4.

Bottom line: On the morning of December 31, 2018, watch for three planets – Venus, Jupiter and Mercury – on a line with the waning moon. Note that the lit side of the moon points to the gorgeous line up of morning planets.