Stargazers are advised to “wrap up warm” this Saturday evening, as clear skies are forecast by the Met Office for January’s full moon, known as the Wolf Moon, promising excellent visibility for the celestial spectacle.
According to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the name was inspired by the howling of hungry wolves as they prowled for food during midwinter months.
This year’s Wolf Moon is also a supermoon, a captivating astronomical event which occurs when the full moon is near its closest point to Earth in its orbit.
This means it will appear up to 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter compared to when it is furthest away.
The Wolf Moon will be at its fullest at around 10am on Saturday, the observatory states on its website.
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said conditions should be clear for Saturday morning, meaning the supermoon will be “visible for most people”.
He added: “So south-west England, west Wales and Northern Ireland will have a fair bit of cloud around, because they’ll be seeing some wintry showers.
“Northern Scotland will be pretty cloudy because they’ll still be seeing plenty of snow showers there.
“Elsewhere, there should be plenty of sunshine around so it should be visible to most of the country.
“For many places, if you’re in west Wales and south-west England, there’s probably the mildest temperatures and there you’re only looking at sort of three or four degrees by 10 o’clock in the morning, but for many of us, temperatures will be around zero by 10 o’clock in the morning so it will be a very cold start – so there’s probably still going to be a fair bit of frost on the ground, even at that time in the morning tomorrow.
“So very chilly, but very clear and very sunny – so if you wrap up warm, it’ll be good to get out and see it.”
Jess Lee, astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: “Every full moon throughout the year has its own unique nickname.
“The January full moon is often called the Wolf Moon, a name inspired by wolves that were thought to roam during the long winter nights.”
She added: “You don’t need any special equipment or to escape light pollution to enjoy the view, it’s a beautiful sight in cities and rural areas alike.”
