Full Moon Christmas 2015 is here today
The full moon is the last of the year and the first to occur on Christmas Day since 1977.
“There is no cause for concern over the upcoming flyby of asteroid 2003 SD220 this Christmas Eve”, said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for NEO Studies at JPL. This cycle – known as the Metonic cycle – happens because 235 returns to full moon nearly exactly equal 19 years.
There is no denying the fact that full moon Christmas is extremely rare and sky lovers are not going to squander off the opportunity.
EarthSky report, “The December 25, 2015 full moon is the Western Hemisphere’s first full moon on Christmas Day since 1977”.
The asteroid, named 2003 SD220, will fly by at a distance of about 6.8 million miles. But this year, a bright full moon will be an added gift for the holidays.
Happy Christmas to all of you. The last time this happened was in 1977, and we won’t see another celestial event like it until 2034. It reached its peak at 4:11 a.m. Mountain time. So on early Christmas morning, be sure to steal a glance at the sky to catch the rare and handsome full moon.