A full moon rises over the Supreme Court in Washington in Jan. 2023. Tom Brenner for The Washington Post
The first full moon of 2024 will brighten the skies on Thursday night – and the wolves may be howling.
The moon, known as the wolf moon, will hit peak illumination during the day, but the moon will be below the horizon. Sky watchers will have to wait until the evening to see it – when the sun goes down and the moon rises. Moonrise is expected around 5:14 p.m. Eastern in D.C., although the exact time will vary in different cities.
When will the wolf moon appear?
The moon will appear full starting Wednesday night and through Friday.
Full moons occur when the Earth is between the sun and the moon. The moon appears full because the whole side facing Earth is illuminated by the sun.
On Thursday night, the full moon will kick off the longest moon phase of the year. The moon will take 8 days, 5 hours and 24 minutes to transition from a full moon to the third quarter on Feb. 2, according to timeanddate.com. Typically, the moon takes about 7.4 days to transition from one phase to another.
The longer phase is due to the moon’s elliptical orbit around Earth, which means the moon is always traveling at slightly different distances from Earth and slightly different speeds (traveling slower when it is farther away). The shortest moon phase this year will occur in August, when the moon will swap from full to third quarter in 6 days and 15 hours.
Why is it called a wolf moon?
January’s full moon is commonly referred to as the wolf moon, probably derived from the idea that wolves tend to howl more in the winter. Howling is four times more common in February than in May, according to the National Park Service. Wolves aren’t howling at the moon but are communicating with comrades. They typically breed from January to March in the northern United States, but are quieter in the spring so they don’t attract predators while they raise their pups.
The moon is also known as the ice moon, the moon after Yule and the old moon. The next full moon will be on Feb. 24, called the snow moon because of the month’s typically cold and snowy weather.
What else can you see in the sky around the wolf moon?
On Thursday night, Jupiter and Saturn may appear in the sky as well just after sunset. Saturn will appear low in the southwest from New York, but Jupiter will appear brighter almost due south, according to Space.com.
The moon will have a bigger special moment on April 8, when it blocks out the sun’s disk to create a total solar eclipse. Total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth about every 18 months or so, but the next total solar eclipses in the United States won’t occur until 2044 and 2045.
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