(RNN) – The final weekend before Christmas is offering up a heavenly trifecta of events.
This week will feature the shortest duration of daylight of the year. Winter solstice 2018 in Northern Hemisphere will be at 5:23 PM on Friday, December 21, with only 9 hours and 59 minutes of daylight. #winter #solstice pic.twitter.com/32efkezFmL
— NWS Charleston, SC (@NWSCharlestonSC) December 17, 2018
December 21 is the official start of winter. It’s also known as the winter solstice, which makes it the shortest day of the year (or the longest night, depending on your perspective).
The night may be long, but the moon will be full, partially making up for the lack of daylight.
The weekend’s full moon has plenty of nicknames: Cold Moon, Long Night Moon, Wolf Moon, Ice Moon, Old Moon or Moon Before Yule.
The moon will still be 95 percent full on Christmas Eve, so Santa should have plenty of light to work with as he’s making his rounds.
Make sure to take a close look at this particular full moon, because you won’t see it again anytime soon.
Believe it or not, the next full moon to peak on the winter solstice won’t be until 2094, according to “The Old Farmer’s Almanac.”
And, No. 3 on the celestial trifecta is the annual Ursids meteor shower. It’s expected to peak a day or two after the solstice.
The website In the Sky has a neat little feature that helps you figure out where to watch and even how many meteors you might see. Depending on where you live, that could be up to 10 an hour.
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