The Next Full Moon is the Cold, Frost or Winter Moon

As winter continues, the daily periods of sunlight continue lengthening. On Tuesday, December 26, 2023 (the day of the full Moon), morning twilight will begin at 6:22 AM, sunrise will be at 7:25 AM, solar noon will be at 12:09 PM when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 27.8 degrees, sunset will be at 4:52 PM, and evening twilight will end at 5:56 PM. Our 24-hour clock is based on the average length of the solar day. Although the day of the winter solstice is sometimes called the “shortest day of the year” (because it has the shortest period of sunlight), the solar days near the solstice are actually the longest solar days of the year. Because of this, the earliest sunset of the year occurs before the solstice and the latest sunrise of the year (ignoring Daylight Savings Time) occurs after the solstice. For the Washington, DC area and similar latitudes (I’ve not checked other latitudes), Friday, January 5, 2024, will have the latest (non-daylight-savings time) sunrise of the year (with sunrise at 7:26:56 AM EST). By Thursday, January 25 (the day of the full Moon after next), morning twilight will begin at 6:24 AM, sunrise will be at 7:27 AM, solar noon will be at 12:13 PM when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 28.5 degrees, sunset will be at 5:00 PM, and evening twilight will end at 6:03 PM.