As the final full moon of both 2024 and fall, the rise of the Cold Moon will provide a spectacular, if frosty, finale to the celestial calendar.

Officially full at 4:01 a.m. EST on Sunday (Dec. 15), the full moon will be best seen rising in the east later that day at the time of moonrise where you are. It will be in the constellation Taurus, surrounded by some of the night sky's brightest stars and the planet Jupiter.

Although it can easily be seen with the naked eye, a pair of binoculars or a small beginners' telescope will give you a terrific close-up of the orangey lunar surface as it appears above the eastern horizon.

The Cold Moon is so named because it rises just a week before the December solstice, the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, which signals the beginning of astronomical winter. It's also known as the Long Nights Moon and the Moon Before Yule, referring to a Pagan festival coinciding with the solstice.