Wolf Moon: First full moon of 2024 to appear in Irish skies on Thursday

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, January's full moon is often referred to as the 'wolf moon' as a reference to wolves that used to howl at night around this time of year. Picture: Denis Boyle

January’s Wolf Moon, the first full moon of 2024, will rise in the evening sky on Thursday.

The Wolf Moon will occur at exactly 5:54pm in Ireland, as long as cloud cover does not spoil the show.

The first full moon of the year is known as the Wolf Moon, because in the parts of the world where they live, wolves are more active in January, and most often heard howling.

According to Astronomy Ireland founder David Moore, the name Wolf Moon comes from native American folklore.

He revealed February’s full moon will be called the Snow Moon, due to the amount of snow that falls at that time of year.

A full moon occurs when the sun, the earth, and the moon align.

“We are in the middle on planet Earth, the sun is behind us, and the moon is in front of us.

“The sun lights up the moon up fully, and in turn, we get a full moon,” explained Mr Moore. A full moon occurs roughly once a month.

Thursday night’s viewing, however, will depend on the weather.

“In Ireland, there’s always a good chance that cloud cover could spoil the show, but there are seven million people on the island, someone somewhere is going to get a clear sky.

The full moon will be the brightest thing in the sky, so, any tiny breaks in the clouds and you will see it,” Mr Moore said.

And if Thursday night is a no-go weather-wise, Mr Moore said the moon will also look full to the naked eye on the day before (Wednesday), and the day after (Friday).

Full moons are not the only exciting lunar events happening this year, as there will also be two eclipses occurring over the coming months.

According to Mr Moore, we will have a partial eclipse of the sun in April, followed by a partial eclipse of the moon in September.

Moon Exploration

Mr Moore, who has applied to become an astronaut “countless times”, is excited by all the moon explorations which have taken place recently.

When asked if he would like to take a trip to the moon someday, he replied: “In a heartbeat!” 

“The moon is huge in space exploration at the moment, literally billions are being spent on getting back to it every year,” he said.

Mr Moore was tested to be an astronaut back in 1991, but unfortunately, no one from Ireland was selected at that time.

“Irish people can apply to be astronauts every few years. However, it is quite a rare process.

“There has only ever been just over 600 people in space, but that is going to change,” he said.

According to Mr Moore, space travel and exploration is “very expensive at the minute, but that is expected to come down.” 

“Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the world’s two richest men, both own space companies. Both were kids interested in space, and both grew up to be successful businesspeople.

“They have stood on stage together and said they are going to put one million people on Mars by the end of this century.

So, astronauts are going to become 10 a penny. You are going to know astronauts like you know pilots.

There will probably be one living in your village,” he said.

Mr Moore believes that by the end of the century “space flights will be as common as air travel.” 

“If anyone else said that you’d think they were crazy, but when the two richest men in the world say it, and they’ve got space companies that can do it, who knows?

“Elon Musk may not know what he’s doing with Twitter, but he certainly knows what he’s doing with space!” Mr Moore laughed.