--- --- # Rare Christmas Full Moon Will Be the First Since 1977 by [Keith Wagstaff / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Keith Wagstaff / NBC News Dec 24, 2015 5:29 PM UTC by [Keith Wagstaff / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Keith Wagstaff / NBC News Dec 24, 2015 5:29 PM UTC The last time a full moon appeared on Christmas Day, Han Solo and Chewbacca were fighting Stormtroopers in “Star Wars.” OK, so not everything has changed. But Friday will be the first full moon on Christmas since 1977, when the original “Star Wars” premiered, and it won’t happen again until 2034. This time around, the moon will reach its peak size in the U.S. at 6:11 a.m. ET on Christmas morning. “As we look at the moon on such an occasion, it’s worth remembering that the moon is more than just a celestial neighbor,” John Keller of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center [said in a statement](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/rare-full-moon-on-christmas-day). [_Read the rest of this story from our partners at NBC News_.](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/holiday-treat-rare-christmas-full-moon-will-be-first-1977-n485551?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002) Rare Christmas Full Moon Will Be the First Since 1977 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4161207/christmas-full-moon-first-1977/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4161207/christmas-full-moon-first-1977/"},"headline":"Rare Christmas Full Moon Will Be the First Since 1977","datePublished":"2015-12-24T17:29:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:37:51.719Z","description":"The next Christmas Day full moon won't happen until 2034","url":"https://time.com/4161207/christmas-full-moon-first-1977/","keywords":["Space","moon"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Keith Wagstaff / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4161207/christmas-full-moon-first-1977/","name":"Rare Christmas Full Moon Will Be the First Since 1977"}}]}] ```