Full moon December 2025: Cold Moon in Gemini

What time is it where you are?

The same instant falls on different dates around the world, so check the date as well as the time.

Moonrise and the highest point

A full moon rises around sunset and climbs highest around the middle of the night. These are the moonrise nearest the exact moment and the Moon's highest point after it, in local time.

Of these cities, it rides highest in Dubai, at 88°, and lowest in Sydney, at 27°.

Height is the angle above the horizon, where 90° would be straight overhead. A full moon near the horizon is the same size as a high one. It only looks bigger.

Why it's called the Cold Moon

The full moon nearest the winter solstice, when the nights in the Northern Hemisphere are at their longest and coldest.

The stars behind this full moon

Signs follow the seasons and constellations are patterns of stars, and the two have drifted apart over the centuries. At 13°04′ Gemini, the Moon actually stands in front of Taurus, the bull, not the constellation Gemini is named after. The Sun, on the far side of the sky at 13°03′ Sagittarius, is in front of Ophiuchus.

More about TaurusWhy signs and constellations differSee the real sky at your own birth

How close is the Moon?

At 357,208 km from Earth, this is the 2nd closest of the 12 full moons of 2025. It looks 14% wider than the farthest full moon of the year, on 13 April 2025, a difference that is easier to measure than to see.

Perigee, the closest point of this orbit, comes on 4 December 2025 at 11:07 UTC, 12 hours before the exact full moon, at 356,953 km. Apogee, the farthest point, comes on 17 December 2025 at 406,312 km. When a full or new moon falls this close to perigee, tides tend to run a little higher than usual for a day or two.

The planets at this full moon

Where everything else stands at the exact moment, and any major aspect each planet makes to the Moon, using the same orbs Hali uses in every chart.

The tightest contact is an opposition to Venus, 7.9° from exact. With Venus opposite the Moon, its themes tend to show up as a pull in another direction. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are retrograde at this moment.

Planets to look for

The bright Moon washes out faint stars, but the planets still shine through.

• Mercury is in the morning sky before dawn, in front of Libra.
• Venus is too close to the Sun to see.
• Mars is too close to the Sun to see.
• Jupiter is in the morning sky before dawn, in front of Gemini.
• Saturn is in the evening sky after sunset, in front of Aquarius.

Eclipse season

The Moon is 89.3° from the North Node, one of the two points where its path crosses the Sun's. Eclipses only happen when a new or full moon falls near a node, so this one falls outside eclipse season. The next eclipse is the annular solar eclipse at the new moon of February 2026.

What the lunar nodes are

This lunar cycle

This full moon is the peak of the cycle that began with the new moon in Scorpio on 20 November 2025. The cycle ends with the new moon on 20 December 2025.

A full moon in Gemini

With the Sun opposite in Sagittarius, this full moon sets the details against the big picture. It is a good time to notice which conversations are worth finishing and which ideas were only noise.

Astrology reads full and new moons as moments for reflection, not predictions. Take what helps and leave the rest.

When the Moon is in Gemini

Gemini Moon days are busy and chatty. Messages pile up, plans change and curiosity runs high, so it's a good time for errands, learning and catching up with people.

More about the Moon in Gemini

The same moon in other years

• Next yearFull moon December 2026, Cancer
• Next full moon in GeminiFull moon November 2026, Gemini