The first full moon of January 2025 -- the Wolf Moon -- is here, according to NASA, and skygazers will get a little extra treat with it.
The moon rose in the sky in the evening on Sunday, Jan. 12, NASA said, and will appear full for approximately three days into Wednesday morning. It will reach peak illumination Monday evening at 4:27 p.m. CT, NASA said, with Mars appearing closer and closer.
"On the night of the full Moon, for most of the continental USA as well as parts of Africa, Canada, and Mexico, the Moon will pass in front of the planet Mars," NASA said.
The name "Wolf Moon" is derived from Native American culture, NASA said, with the January full Moon's name coming from "packs of wolfs heard howling outside the villages amid the cold and deep snows of winter."
European names for the Moon -- the first full Moon after the winter solstice -- include the Ice Moon, the Old Moon and the Moon after Yule, NASA said.
Parade of planets and bright stars in the sky
But that's not the only thing skygazers can catch this week.
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Mars will be at its closest and brightest Jan. 15, NASA said, and Venus and Saturn will appear closest to each other Jan. 18.
Six of our seven neighboring planets will line up in the sky to form a long arc around mid-January. All but Neptune and Uranus should be visible with the naked eye just after sunset, weather permitting.
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The parade will continue for weeks, with some of the planets occasionally snuggling up. Mercury will make a cameo appearance by the end of February. The planets will gradually exit, one by one, through spring.
The best time to observe all of the planets at one time will be in the afternoon hours between 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. throughout the month, said Hunter Miller, an astronomy educator with the Adler Planetarium.
"The optimal timing and location of the planets in the sky will vary slightly throughout the month, so I recommend utilizing a sky observing app like Stellarium to know exactly where to look from your location at any given time," Miller told NBC Chicago.
In addition to a parade of planets, other stars will shine brightly this month, NASA says.
"This time of year, we see many bright stars in the sky at evening twilight, with bright stars scattered from the south-southeast toward the northwest," NASA said. "We see more stars in this direction because we are looking toward the Local Arm of our home galaxy (also called the Orion Arm, Orion-Cygnus Arm, or Orion Bridge)."
