Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Full Wolf Moon | Perihelion

The Full Moon occurs here at 6:02 PM. This is the Wolf Full Moon, so named because traditionally this is thought to be the time when wolves howl at the moon from hunger. This may not be totally accurate, however: “Howling and other wolf vocalizations are heard in the wintertime to locate pack members, reinforce social bonds, define territory, and coordinate hunting,” not necessarily because they are hungry.

Other names for the January Full Moon:

Another fitting name for this Full Moon is the Center Moon. Used by the Assiniboine people of the Northern Great Plains, it refers to the idea that this Moon roughly marks the middle of the cold season. Other traditional names for the January Moon emphasize the harsh coldness of the season: Cold Moon (Cree), Frost Exploding Moon (Cree), Freeze Up Moon (Algonquin), and Severe Moon (Dakota). Hard Moon (Dakota) highlights the phenomenon of the fallen snow developing a hard crust.

There will be thirteen Full Moons in 2026, instead of the usual twelve, with two Full Moons in the month of May (May 2 and May 31). This is possible since the lunar month is only 29.5 days long and two can fit into a 30 or 31 day month. The Wolf Full Moon is also one of the three Super Moons that occur in 2026. The two others will occur in November 24 and December 23. Mark your calendars. Super Moons occur when the moon’s orbit brings it closer to Earth than usual.  Super Moons can appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year, according to NASA. 

Today the moon will be a mere 224,403 miles from Earth. The apogee, the farthest the moon gets from Earth, can be up to 252,088 miles, with an average distance between the Earth and the Moon of 238,855 miles. So this Full Moon will be 14,452 miles closer to Earth than the average distance. 

By coincidence January 3 this year is also the Perihelion, the day of the year when the Sun is closest to the Earth. This phenomenon has no connection to the Full Moon and the two coincide only rarely. Today the Sun is 91.4 million miles from Earth. Aphelion, when the Sun is the farthest from Earth, occurs in early July, when the Sun is 94.5 million miles from Earth. It may seem odd the Sun is closest to Earth in wintertime and the farthest from Earth in summertime. The distance of the Sun from Earth actually has little or no effect on the seasons, which are determined primarily by the 23.4° tilt of Earth's axis relative to its orbital plane. 

The dates of Perihelion and Aphelion are not fixed; they gradually progress through the calendar over centuries due to orbital precession and perturbations from other planets—cycles known as Milankovitch cycles. On a timescale of 22,000 to 26,000 years, perihelion and aphelion complete one full cycle through all seasons. The latest January perihelion will occur in 2089, and the latest July aphelion in 2060; by the year 3800, perihelion is projected to occur solely in February rather than January. Mark your calendars. 

As if the Full Moon and the Perihelion are not enough, the Quadrantids Meteor Shower peaks in January 3-4,  and Jupiter is the biggest and brightest it will be this whole year. A refulgent Full Moon and gorgeous Jupiter are blazing in the sky west of Zaisan Tolgoi as I write this. It’s an exciting time to be alive!