Don't miss: Tomorrow's the last full moon of 2012

THIS MAY BE a time for reflection if you happen to look up tonight and tomorrow when it gets dark: you’ll be gazing at the last full moon of the year.

The full moon in December is known as a Long Night Moon because of the length of nighttime this close to the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

You may have noticed this week that a very bright star – in fact, the planet Jupiter – close to the moon this evening. Jupiter was closest to the moon on Christmas Night, as Astronomy Ireland noted here.

The last full moon of the year will rise tomorrow morning at 10.21am (GMT) – that means that it will be perfectly opposite the sun in the Earth’s sky.  While technically the full moon rises tomorrow morning, it will look full to the naked eye tonight and tomorrow night.

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