December 2028: Solstice, Blue Moon, Total Eclipse
Dispatch, December 2028: the leap year is down to its last 31 days, and it spends them generously. The month runs from Friday, December 1 to Sunday, December 31. The weekend count runs to 10: five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays, all padding the year-end run. The solstice lands on Thursday, December 21, the north's shortest day and the south's high-summer gate. The moon climbs a five-rung ladder, full to full, and the last rung, on Sunday, December 31, rises into total eclipse.
The moon ladder, full to full
December is the only month of the quarter with five moon phases, one to a week. The ladder reads: full moon on Saturday, December 2, last quarter on Saturday, December 9, new moon on Saturday, December 16. First quarter comes on Saturday, December 23, then a second full moon on Sunday, December 31. Two full moons bookend the month, and the second carries an arithmetic title: a “blue moon”.
A blue moon in eclipse
The year's final night puts on a two-in-one show. On Sunday, December 31, the blue moon rises into total lunar eclipse, with totality running from 16:16 to 17:27 UTC, about 71 minutes of copper red. Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia watch it end to end; western North America catches the opening stages before moonset.
Public sky-watches have planned their evenings around it for months, and year-end broadcasts inherit a ready-made finale. The sky has done this year's heavy lifting, from July's total solar eclipse to this one. It closes the books in style.
Long nights, fixed dates
The solstice bottoms out the northern daylight on Thursday, December 21. For the week around it, dark commutes come at both ends of the day. The southern half of the world opens its longest days. Stockholm and Oslo present the Nobel Prizes on the fixed anniversary, Sunday, December 10. The American Electoral College convenes on Tuesday, December 19, the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday, to cast the votes chosen on Tuesday, November 7.
The working month is short: 21 business days against 10 weekend days, across weeks 48 to 52. China's Tianwen-3 Mars sample-return mission aims at the December-January launch window on two heavy Long March flights from Wenchang, with samples bound for Earth by 2031. When Sunday, December 31 runs out, 2029 opens the next morning on a Monday: a clean Sunday-to-Monday hinge at the year's edge.
December 2028 ends a 366-day year under an eclipsed moon and hands 2029 a Monday morning. Print this grid and the next one; the hinge is that tidy.