IF YOU look up to the skies above Loughborough this week, you may catch a glimpse of something special.

And we don't mean Santa and his sleigh in a practice run for the big day - December is bringing us the last supermoon of 2016, and this time it's also a Cold Moon or Long Nights Moon, according to ancient folklore.

But what exactly is it and when can we see it?

And what's this about supermoons causing natural disasters?

Here's all you need to know.

When is the next supermoon and what is it?

The next supermoon will be on December 14, 2016.

A supermoon occurs because the moon does not orbit the Earth in a perfect circle, so it sometimes comes closer to us.

When it reaches its closest point - called the perigee - it looks 14 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter.

When it's at its furthest point (apogee), it looks smaller and is called a Micromoon.

In the Northern hemisphere - the northern half of the globe that includes the UK - supermoons are larger at this time of year. This is because the Earth is closest to the sun in December, and pulls the moon nearer to us.

They also look bigger when they are near the horizon than when higher up in the sky.

So what's a Cold Moon?

Native American tribes use the moon as the basis for their calendar.

They call the December full moon a Cold Moon or Long Nights Moon.

The Cold Moon gets its name from the fact that this is when winter really sets in.

And the name Long Nights Moon comes from the fact that this moon is near the Winter Solstice, which is on December 21 when we have the shortest day and the most darkness.

You can also call it the Snow Moon and Christmas Moon.

Is there any supernatural or magical significance?

Wiccans and other pagan worshippers say this moon is also known as the Oak Moon and the Wolf Moon.

They believe it's the time of the Dark Lord, the Celtic horned god of winter, fertility, forests, wild animals and the underworld, and whose symbols include the oak tree.

For followers of these beliefs, the emphasis is on rebirth, inner reflection, the home, contemplating the lessons learned in times of darkness and preparing for the coming future of the new year.

Worshippers say it's also a good opportunity for reaching out to friends, family, the needy and the lonely.

Magical rituals are performed at this time to focus on those things.

Do supermoons pose any threat?

We do know that a supermoon has a bigger gravitational pull than usual, so it can cause larger tides and higher waves.

Some have suggested the gravitational pull is an extra 20-30 per cent - or even as much as 50 per cent higher.

This effect also causes a slight increase in seismic activity.

So supermoons have been blamed for causing natural disasters.

The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake in the South Island of New Zealand was on the night of a supermoon but scientists have dismissed claims of any direct link between the two events.

However, researchers in Japan have found there is some connection.

They state that especially high tides - such as those during a supermoon - could be enough to create an earthquake if a fault line was already fragile and close to tipping point.

Don't expect the end of the world though.