For the first time in 38 years, the Christmas night sky will have a full moon. What joy! The last time this occurred was in 1977 — not too long after the release of the movie Saturday Night Fever. The next Christmas full moon won’t appear until the year 2034, NASA has confirmed.
How rare is a full moon on Christmas? Not as rare as a December 25 lunar eclipse.
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Brian Resnick was Vox’s science and health editor and is the co-creator of Unexplainable, Vox’s podcast about unanswered questions in science.
Of course, this mostly just means there’ll be a brighter night sky if it isn’t cloudy. (And if there’s snow on the ground, Christmas night will take on a particularly ethereal and somber beauty.)
But you know what would be even cooler and rarer? A Christmastime lunar eclipse.
NASA maintains a calendar of every lunar eclipse that will occur until the year 3000 — should humanity last that long. Lunar eclipses only occur a couple or more times per year — and it’s rare for them to hit the same date twice.
The next time a lunar eclipse will occur on Christmas will be December 25, 2531, a time nearly as far away from today as Columbus’s voyage to America.
The 2500s, actually, will be a prime century for Christmas lunar eclipses. NASA predicts there will be three: in 2531, 2550, and 2596. (My prediction: The skateboard will make a miraculous comeback as the toy of the year in 2596.)
Disappointed by how long we have to wait? A Christmas solar eclipse will occur much sooner. NASA predicts the next one will be on December 25, 2307 (it will be a partial eclipse). Set your calendar alerts now.
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