Full moon December 2027: 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 89°, and lowest in Sydney, at 29°.

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 21°25′ 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 21°24′ 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 368,131 km from Earth, this is the 3rd closest of the 12 full moons of 2027. It looks 10% wider than the farthest full moon of the year, on 18 July 2027, a difference that is easier to measure than to see.

Perigee, the closest point of this orbit, comes on 16 December 2027 at 02:25 UTC, 2 days after the exact full moon, at 364,018 km. Apogee, the farthest point, comes on 4 December 2027 at 404,649 km.

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 a sextile from Saturn, 0.3° from exact. A sextile from Saturn offers an opening that is easy to miss if you are not looking. With Mercury opposite the Moon, its themes tend to show up as a pull in another direction. A square from Jupiter adds some friction, which often gets things moving. Saturn, 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 too close to the Sun to see.
• Venus is in the evening sky after sunset, in front of Sagittarius.
• Mars is in the evening sky after sunset, in front of Sagittarius.
• Jupiter is in the morning sky before dawn, in front of Virgo.
• Saturn is in the evening sky after sunset, in front of Pisces.

Eclipse season

The Moon is 41.5° from the South 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.

What the lunar nodes are

This lunar cycle

This full moon is the peak of the cycle that began with the new moon in Sagittarius on 28 November 2027. The cycle ends with the new moon on 27 December 2027.

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

• Last yearFull moon December 2026, Cancer