Full Moon on Christmas Eve 2026: December 24, in Cancer — Every Christmas Full Moon 1950–2060
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The last full moon of 2026, often called the Cold Moon, falls on December 24 at about 01:46 UTC, with the Moon in Cancer and the Sun in Capricorn.
What date that is where you live
| Place | Local time of the full moon |
|---|---|
| London | December 24, 01:46 |
| Paris, Berlin | December 24, 02:46 |
| Seoul, Tokyo | December 24, 10:46 |
| Sydney | December 24, 12:46 |
| New York | December 23, 20:46 |
| Los Angeles | December 23, 17:46 |
So it is a Christmas Eve full moon in Europe, Asia and Australia, and a full moon on the night before Christmas Eve in the Americas. On Christmas Eve night itself the Moon will still look full almost everywhere.
Every full moon on December 24 or 25 (UTC), 1950–2060
| Year | Full moon (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1950 | December 24, 10:41 |
| 1977 | December 25, 12:49 |
| 1996 | December 24, 20:18 |
| 2007 | December 24, 01:30 |
| 2015 | December 25, 11:07 |
| 2026 | December 24, 01:46 |
| 2034 | December 25, 09:04 |
| 2045 | December 24, 01:09 |
| 2053 | December 25, 09:37 |
Nine in 111 years. The Moon's phases repeat on nearly the same calendar dates every 19 years (the Metonic cycle), which is why 2007, 2026 and 2045 line up so closely.
The rest of the December 2026 sky
- New moon: around midnight UTC between December 8 and 9, in Sagittarius.
- The Moon enters Cancer on December 23 at 22:13 UTC, a few hours before it is full, and leaves for Leo on December 25.
What the numbers do and don't tell you
When the Moon is full is astronomy. Astrology reads a full moon in Cancer as a time when home and family feelings come to a head. That is an interpretation, and this table cannot prove or disprove it.
How we calculated: the Sun's and Moon's apparent longitudes from the public-domain (Meeus) formulas in our chart engine; the full moon is the moment the Moon is 180° from the Sun, found to the minute. Our Moon is accurate to about a tenth of a degree, so treat each time as accurate to within about 20 minutes. Names like "Cold Moon" are folk names, not astronomy.