Countdown

Supermoon — December 24, 2026 (Cold Moon)

Name: Supermoon — December 24, 2026 (Cold Moon)
Start: 2026-12-24
Location: Global

Thursday, December 24, 2026 · 197 days away

GlobalSpacescheduled

Countdown

203

Days

Hours

Min

Sec

Reminders

Discord

Event overview

Christmas Eve Cold Moon — the closest full moon of 2026 at roughly 221,667 miles from Earth and the largest supermoon of the year.

Date: 2026-12-24
Country / jurisdiction: Global
Region: Global
Category: Space
Status: scheduled

Confirmation checklist

Before you act on this countdown

Use the timer for orientation, then run through these checks before booking, publishing, buying tickets, scheduling alerts, or moving operations around this date.

Date signal

The date is suitable for countdown use, with the source still owning late changes.

Local time

No reliable start time is attached yet, so this page stays date-first instead of implying midnight.

Calendar action

Add it to a calendar after checking the source for time, venue, or access changes.

Next useful path

Use the Space and 2026 paths below to compare related countdowns before deciding what to watch next.

Source trail

Source trail for Supermoon — December 24, 2026 (Cold Moon)

Verify source

Primary source

science.nasa.gov

Last reviewed

2026-04-30

Tracker status

scheduled

Date precision

Single-date event without a reliable public start time; date-first countdown only.

Schema posture

Event structured data is emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled or confirmed.

This is an expected date. Use reminders and monitoring, but verify the source before making travel, purchase, publication, or staffing decisions.

Primary citation

The current date signal points to science.nasa.gov. The source URL is shown visibly on the page so readers can verify late changes instead of relying only on the timer.

Freshness and review

Source policy was reviewed on 2026-04-30. Live countdown values are render-time snapshots; editorial source fields update when the tracked event dataset changes.

Operational detail

The record does not carry a reliable public start time yet, so the page avoids implying a midnight or all-day start.

Weak-date handling

The page can support calendar actions and Event schema, while still telling readers to check the source for operational changes.

What this countdown tracks

The clock counts down to the closest supermoon of 2026 — the Christmas Eve Cold Moon on Thursday, December 24, 2026. The Moon reaches full phase at near-minimum distance from Earth (about 357,000 km, or 221,667 miles), making this the largest and brightest full moon of the year.

About this celestial event

The December full moon is the third and closest of 2026's perigee full moons. Because the Moon's full phase coincides with perigee almost exactly, this supermoon appears roughly 14% larger and 30% brighter than the most distant full moon of the year (the apogee full moon, also known as a "micromoon"). The Moon will be at the closest perigee of any 2026 full moon, making the December 24 supermoon the headline lunar event of the year.

The "Cold Moon" name comes from Algonquin tradition for the long, cold December nights. Other Native American traditions call it the Long Nights Moon (because it traces the longest arc above the horizon of any full moon of the year, mirroring the December solstice's longest night) and the Moon Before Yule. In Pagan and Wiccan traditions it is associated with the Yule sabbat.

The December 24 timing is notable because the Christmas Eve full moon is rare — the last Christmas Eve full moon was December 24, 2015, and before that 1996. The next will be in 2034. The combination of "supermoon" + "Christmas Eve" + "closest of the year" makes this one of the most-photographed lunar events of the decade.

What to expect

The 2026 December supermoon reaches full phase on December 24, with the Moon visible all night from rise to set. The Northern Hemisphere December full moon traces the highest arc of any full moon of the year — even higher than the November Beaver Moon — because the Sun is at its lowest declination at the December solstice, and the full moon is exactly opposite. From a 50°N observing site (London, Vancouver, Frankfurt) the Moon climbs above 60° altitude at culmination, dramatically higher than any summer full moon.

Optimal viewing is the moonrise on the evening of December 24 — when the Moon, near the horizon, appears largest thanks to the Moon illusion — and the late-evening hours when the Moon is high in the south at its brightest. The lunar maria and the brightest impact rays from Tycho and Copernicus are easy with binoculars.

Past supermoons

October 17, 2024 — Hunter's Moon supermoon (closest of 2024)
November 14, 2016 — closest supermoon since 1948 at 356,508 km
December 14, 2016 — last December supermoon before the 2026 cycle
December 4, 2017 — Cold Moon supermoon
December 22, 1999 — closest 20th-century supermoon at 356,654 km
December 25, 2015 — most recent Christmas Day full moon

How to observe

NASA's Daily Moon Guide, EarthSky and Sky & Telescope publish exact moonrise/set times for thousands of cities. Stellarium and SkySafari give precise local timings. The Virtual Telescope Project streams the supermoon over Rome; major observatories host Cold Moon evenings. No equipment is needed — the Cold Moon supermoon is best enjoyed naked-eye, ideally with binoculars for the lunar maria.

The December supermoon caps a 2026 trio: pair with Supermoon January 2026 and Supermoon November 2026. The Geminid meteor shower 2026 and December solstice 2026 sit in the same week. See also Christmas 2026.

FAQ

When is the December 2026 supermoon? Thursday, December 24, 2026, with the Moon visible all night and reaching full phase at perigee. Why is it called the Cold Moon? Algonquin tradition named December's full moon for the long, cold nights of midwinter. How close is the Moon at this supermoon? About 357,000 km (221,667 miles) — the closest full moon of 2026 and one of the closest of the decade. Is the December full moon special on Christmas Eve? Yes — the last Christmas Eve full moon was 2015, and the next will be 2034.

Date confidence

Scheduled date

Supermoon — December 24, 2026 (Cold Moon) is tracked as a scheduled event. The date is suitable for countdown and calendar use, while final logistics should still be checked against the linked source.

Source

https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moon-phases/

Source host: science.nasa.gov
Date precision: Single scheduled date from the linked source
Schema posture: Event startDate emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled/confirmed
Planning boundary: Use as a monitoring aid until the source trail is stronger

Structured data posture

This page emits Event structured data because the tracked record has a single scheduled or confirmed date. The linked source remains the final reference for time, venue, and operational changes.

Countdown evidence

Retention class

Date-first scheduled countdown

Evidence score

5/10 record signals

City-page readiness

Held to date-first

Evidence score5/10 signals present: primary source URL; tracked date; schema-safe date; place context; related event cluster
Date and schemaSchema-safe single date: Single-date event without a reliable public start time; date-first countdown only. Event structured data is emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled or confirmed.
Local-time readinessDate-first only: The record is not used as a city-local event page until it has a reliable time, timezone, and non-windowed date.
Record completeness1 concrete fields: country Global
Weak-field watchlist4 fields to improve: verified public start time; venue; manual official-source note; historical sequence
Source freshnessscience.nasa.gov; reviewed 2026-04-30: Related crawl path: Shrek 5 (Theatrical), Stranger Things 5 — Final Volume, Christmas 2026, December Solstice 2026.

Planning notes

How to use this Supermoon — December 24, 2026 (Cold Moon) countdown

Countdown pages are useful when they are honest about what is known, what is merely expected, and what still needs checking. This page keeps the live timer separate from the source confidence and structured-data posture.

Date confidence

Supermoon — December 24, 2026 (Cold Moon) is tracked as scheduled for Thursday, December 24, 2026; the countdown can support reminders while final logistics still belong to science.nasa.gov. The page can emit precise Event structured data because the tracked record has a single scheduled or confirmed date.

What could change

Watch for date shifts, venue or access updates, broadcast windows, registration rules, and source corrections. The current precision is: Single-date event without a reliable public start time; date-first countdown only..

Local-time usefulness

No reliable source start time is attached yet, so the page stays date-first and avoids implying a midnight start. 197 days remain at render time.

Category context

Supermoon — December 24, 2026 (Cold Moon) sits in Space with Global context. Related countdown links should help users compare similar events, not create unverified event-city pages.

Catalog-specific details

No creator, platform, league, brand, fixture, family, or alternate-name detail is attached to this event record.

Series and expectation notes

No series history, end date, or what-to-expect field is attached.

Priority note

This page is kept specific through source confidence, category, region, date precision, and update notes rather than generic countdown filler.

Verification trail

source URL https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moon-phases/. trust checks: Source host: science.nasa.gov, Date precision: Single scheduled date from the linked source, Schema posture: Event startDate emitted because the record is single-date and scheduled/confirmed, and Planning boundary: Use as a monitoring aid until the source trail is stronger. no manual editorial context is attached yet.

Record completeness

present fields: country Global. missing or weak fields: verified public start time, venue, manual official-source note, and historical sequence

Related crawl path

Nearby retained events: Shrek 5 (Theatrical), Stranger Things 5 — Final Volume, Christmas 2026, December Solstice 2026, and Avengers: Doomsday (Theatrical). These links should support topical discovery without creating unverified event-city pages.

Review boundary: this page tracks the public date signal, source link, category, region, and calendar posture. It does not replace official ticketing, exchange, broadcaster, organizer, court, regulator, or government notices.

Source reviewed Apr 30, 2026. The countdown record is intentionally labeled as scheduled or expected; use the source link and any range notes before treating the date as final.

Live values rendered at Jun 3, 11:50 AM UTC.

Related planning pages

Countdown hubAll currently tracked countdowns.Space countdownsRelated events in this category.2026 countdownsEvents tracked for the same calendar year.SourcesHow we cite and review date sources.Speculative datesHow expected and windowed dates are labeled.

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