Topline
Skywatchers after a dramatic celestial sight will be looking east after dark on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, as December’s full moon peaks. However, since it rises in a bright sky, it’s moonrise on Friday, Dec. 5, that’s the best time to watch it appear on the east-northeast horizon. Known as the cold moon, as well as being the year’s final full moon and a supermoon, it will rise higher into the sky than any other full moon of the year.
The Cold Moon rises behind the snow-topped San Gabriel Mountains and the Los Angeles downtown skyline at sunset as seen from the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area on December 29, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
According to Timeanddate, the moon will reach its full phase at 23:14 UTC (6:14 p.m. EST) on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. However, North Americans will want to watch it rise on Friday, Dec. 5.
From all locations in the contiguous U.S., the sky will still be bright as the moon rises on Thursday, Dec. 4. The best time to watch on Friday, Dec. 5, will be 4:56 p.m. EST from New York and 5:27 p.m. from Los Angeles.
As well as the cold moon, December’s full moon goes by traditional names including long nights moon, oak moon and the moon before yule.
The full moon will shine in the constellation Taurus, the bull. The brightest star in that constellation, Aldebaran, will shine to the lower-right of the full moon on Dec. 4, with the bright Pleiades star cluster high to the moon’s upper-right.
Why December’s Full Moon Is A Supermoon
This full moon is also a supermoon, meaning it appears slightly larger and brighter than average because it’s closer to Earth in its slightly elliptical orbit. The moon illusion — the phenomenon of the human brain seeing something as larger than it is when it’s close to the horizon — will enhance its apparent size when it’s low in the sky.
