December 2026 Moon Phases

December 2026 has no eclipses, but it opens with the year’s strongest meteor shower under dark skies, turns the corner into winter at the solstice, and closes with the Cold Moon — the closest and brightest-looking of three consecutive supermoons. Here’s what’s happening and when.

The Geminids are the year’s strongest shower

The Geminid meteor shower peaks overnight on December 13–14, and it’s widely considered the best shower of the year, capable of producing up to 120 meteors an hour under a dark sky — more than even August’s Perseids. The source is unusual, too: rather than comet debris, Geminids come from 3200 Phaethon, a rocky asteroid. This year’s timing is favorable. The Moon is a thin waxing crescent that sets by early evening, leaving the rest of the night fully dark. Unlike most showers, the Geminids also put on a decent show before midnight, since their radiant near the star Castor rises early in the evening, with rates climbing toward their best around 2 AM.

The solstice marks the shortest day of the year

On December 21, the Sun reaches its southernmost point in the sky, marking the astronomical start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s the shortest day and longest night of the year north of the equator — a good excuse to stay out late and look up, since after this point the days slowly start lengthening again on the way toward next June’s solstice.

The Ursids close out the year, but moonlight gets in the way

The Ursids, a minor shower tied to Comet 8P/Tuttle, peak overnight around December 21–22, right alongside the solstice. It’s a modest shower even in a good year — just a handful of meteors an hour — and 2026 isn’t a good year for it: with the Cold Moon just two nights away, a bright, nearly full Moon washes out all but the brightest streaks. Patient, well-bundled observers may still catch an occasional Ursid fireball, but this is more a shower for completionists than a can’t-miss event.

The Full Moon on December 23 is the Cold Moon

December’s Full Moon is the Cold Moon, named simply for the season it falls in as the nights grow long and temperatures drop. It’s the last Full Moon of the year and the first of the astronomical winter, landing just two days after the solstice. It’s also a supermoon — the middle of three in a row that began with November’s Beaver Moon and conclude with January’s Full Moon — and it’s the closest of the three to Earth, so it sits nearest perigee and appears the largest and brightest of the set. No eclipse rides along with it this time, just a big, bright winter Moon.