Last supermoon of the year this week in Okanagan, Kamloops

Frosty night skies over Kamloops and the Okanagan will be illuminated by a supermoon this week and a the peak of an active meteor shower mid-month.

December’s aptly named full Cold Moon reaches peak illumination on Thursday, Dec. 4 and will appear full the night before and after.

Sky watchers have had a treat this fall as the Cold Moon is the third supermoon in a row, meaning the moon is full at its closest point to Earth in its orbit, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Supermoons can appear up to 8% larger in diameter and 16% brighter.

The December full moon has many names from Native American, colonial and European origins that include Long Night Moon, Snow Moon and Hoar Frost Moon. Cold Moon is the most common name coming from the Mohawk people to reflect the frigid season.

Ancient European pagans called it Moon Before Yule as the full moon comes before the Yuletide festival that celebrates the sun’s return after winter solstice.

Sky watchers might want to mark their calendars for the peak of the Geminid meteor shower on the night of Dec. 13 when up to 75 meteors can be seen every hour.

Unlike most meteor showers that are most active at midnight or predawn, the Geminids are visible from early evening and into the morning hours. These meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Gemini.

Meteors occur when Earth passes through icy debris left by a comet that collides with Earth’s atmosphere and burns up.

Geminid meteors were first thought to be caused by asteroid 3200 Phaethon, however asteroid debris doesn’t disintegrate like comet debris to make meteors, so Phaethon was reclassified as an extinct comet that lost its outer covering.

Geminid meteors are caused by slower burning rocky material, where other meteor showers are caused by softer, icier debris.

For full moon viewing this week, the overnight forecast is cloudy with a chance of flurries on Thursday in Kamloops, and a chance of flurries on Friday in the Okanagan.

Overnight temperatures will be hovering around zero so be sure to bundle up with some hot chocolate at a lookout point away from city light pollution. The moon will appear largest near the horizon, just after moonrise.