The first of two January 2018 full moons falls tonight, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, for most of the Western Hemisphere. This full moon comes only 4.5 hours after the moon reaches lunar perigee — is the moon’s closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit — making tonight’s full moon the closest — and thereby the largest and brightest — supermoon of 2018.
The moon reaches fullness at 8:24 p.m. CST and will arrive at perigee (its closest point to Earth in its orbit) about 4.5 hours earlier, at 4 p.m. CST, at a distance of 221,559 miles (356,565 kilometers) from Earth.
A full moon that takes place during perigee is sometimes known as a supermoon. Because the full moon coincides with perigee, it will appear to be the biggest full moon of 2018.
The January full moon was called the Wolf Moon by some Native Americans because the wolf packs, as they suffered the biting cold and snow of midwinter, howled hungrily outside Native American villages. It was also known as the Old Moon or the Moon After Yule. Some tribes called it the Full Snow Moon.
Of the 13 full moons and 14 lunar perigees occurring in 2018, tonight’s is the closest alignment of full moon and lunar perigee for the year. This close coincidence of full moon and perigee not only produces the closest full moon of 2018 but also the closest lunar perigee of 2018.
