Your Moon Guide for December 2025

When to See the Full Moon in December

December’s Full Moon is at its most illuminated at 23:14 UTC on December 4, 2025.

The Moon always appears full in the days before and after peak illumination. Full Moon is the only phase where the Moon is up all night, with moonrise and moonset occurring around sunset and sunrise.

Moon Phase Times December 2025

Moon phases are divided into primary and intermediate: Primary Moon phases happen at a specific moment in time, while the intermediate Moon phases occupy the times in between.

Moon Phases Explained

Learn how the Moon phases work.

Full Moon Rides High in Winter

Here’s one of those things that is obvious when we look, but is easy to miss: The Full Moon gets much higher in the winter sky than it does in the summer sky.

Want some proof? Let’s have a peek at our Moon data tables—in particular, the column that gives us the time of Meridian Passing. This is the moment when the Moon reaches its highest point in the sky on a given date.

Our tables include a number that gives the altitude of the Moon at meridian passing. In astronomy, altitude is the distance between an object and the horizon. It’s measured in degrees, and can be positive (if the object is above the horizon) or negative (if the object is below the horizon). The higher the number, the higher the object is in the sky:

• 90° means the object is directly above us
• 0° means the object is touching the horizon
• -90° means the object is directly beneath our feet (on the other side of Earth)

We’ll take two cities: Chicago, USA, and Melbourne, Australia. And we’ll take two months: December 2025 (when it‘s fall/winter in Chicago, and spring/summer in Melbourne) and June 2026 (when the seasons are the other way round).

Now we’ll look at how high the Full Moon gets in the sky in each case. As we can see in the table below, it climbs a lot higher in the winter!

Why Is the Moon So High/Low?

In December, Earth’s North Pole is tilted away from the Sun, while the South Pole is tilted toward it. This gives us winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

At Full Moon, the Moon lies on the opposite side of Earth to the Sun. So in December the North Pole is tilted toward the Full Moon, whereas the South Pole leans away from the Full Moon.

As a result, in the Northern Hemisphere, the December Full Moon rises early, travels high across the sky, and sets late—just like the Sun does during the summer. Meanwhile in the Southern Hemisphere, December’s Full Moon rises late, travels low, and sets early—in the same way as the winter Sun.

What Do We Call This Full Moon?

The Celts called this month’s Full Moon the Cold Moon, after the cold, wintry temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Old English and Anglo-Saxon names are the Moon Before Yule and the Long Night Moon. Both names refer to the winter solstice, and the ancient celebration of Yule. Another Celtic name is the Oak Moon.

Full Moon Names

Strawberry Moon, Harvest Moon, and other traditional names.

It’s Another Supermoon

A Supermoon is a Full Moon or New Moon that coincides with the Moon being near its closest point to Earth.

Supermoons tend to come in pairs. So it’s no surprise that, following last month’s Supermoon, the December Full Moon is again a Supermoon.

December’s Supermoon is a fraction less “super” than the one in November. At the moment of Full Moon on November 5, the Earth-Moon distance (measured from the center of the Earth to the center of the Moon) was 356,978 km (221,816 miles). At Full Moon on December 4, the distance will be 357,218 km (221,965 miles).

The Moon & Planets in December

Every month, the Moon completes one circuit around the sky, passing through the same 12 or so constellations that the Sun does over the course of a year.

Along the way, the Moon sweeps by each of the planets. This month’s notable close approaches are as follows:

• December 7, Moon-Jupiter: See it on our Night Sky Map for New York
• December 17–18, Moon-Mercury: Have a look at the view from London about an hour before sunrise
• December 26–27, Moon-Saturn: The Moon catches up with Saturn—seen here from Sydney at 21:00 (9 pm)

The above close approaches are visible from more or less any part of the world—we’ve included the examples from our Night Sky Map to give you a taste of the view from different cities.

Skywatching in December

Published: Nov 25, 2025

Frequently Asked Moon Questions