The first full moon of 2023 is coming up on Friday, and this Wolf Moon was already howling early in the afternoon over Rockmart.

Driving around catching up on some recent happenings around the east side of the county, I happened to grab this perfect shot of the moon coming up over the city’s water tower at the intersection of Brock Road and Marquette Road.

This month’s full moon is known as the Wolf Moon as it is commonly believed due to wolves howling outside of villages at night during the winter months.

Moonrise in the eastern time zone will occur just after 4 p.m. on Friday. The night sky for those willing to go out and look in their backyards over the coming evenings will also feature Venus just above the western horizon, along with  Saturn, Jupiter and Mars after sunset across the southern sky.