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As winter nights grow longer, Northern Hemisphere residents should keep an eye out for the final nights this weekend Full moon of the year. The silver orb will shine brightly in the sky for more than 16 hours from Saturday evening into Sunday morning.

It will reach its peak illuminance, also known as the long night moon or cold moon, at 4:02 a.m. ET on Sunday, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. However, according to NASA, the moon will appear round to the naked eye for about three days.

For those in the southern hemisphere who had long visibility Moon in June, December’s full moon will appear for a shorter period of time and follow a lower arc in the sky, said Sara Russell, researcher and head of the Planetary Materials Group at London’s Natural History Museum.

“For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the moon appears to be rising higher in the sky than one would expect,” Russell said in an email.

The sun, moon and earth are approximately on the same plane. The full moon occurs when the Earth is between the moon and the sun as the moon orbits our planet. “In December, when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is low and has a short path across the sky, so the opposite moon has a high and long path,” Russell added.

The cold moon’s name is a reference to the bitter weather experienced in the Northern Hemisphere at this time of year. The name comes from the Mohawk people, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which includes names for each full moon that historically come from Native Americans, Colonial Americans or other sources.

To best see the cold moon, Russell recommended observing it near the horizon when it has just risen or is about to set. Dress in warm layers if it’s colder and check if your area has clear skies, she said.

“We on Earth are so lucky to have the moon. “Nowhere else in our solar system are the planet and moon so large – the moon almost resembles our smaller twin,” Russell said. “It is better at preserving its entire history than the Earth’s surface, and we can look at the cratered surface to see how much impact the Moon and Earth have suffered over their 4.5 billion-year history became.”

Observing the moon can reflect on the unanswered questions about the neighboring celestial object, such as the mysteries surrounding the far side of the moon, theories about the water-rich lunar poles, or the possibility that humans could one day live on permanent bases there, Russell said.

This year, the December full moon occurs a week before the winter solstice, an astronomical event caused by the Earth’s tilt that marks the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa.

This year’s winter solstice, when Earth’s axis is tilted farthest from the sun, will occur at 4:21 a.m. ET on Dec. 21, according to EarthSky.

The next full moon will be the Wolf Moon on January 25, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

There are now two meteor showers at the end of the year; According to the American Meteor Society, the Geminids will be visible flaming in the night sky until the shower ends on December 21st, while the Ursids will peak on December 21st and 22nd.