The next full moon will appear in the night skies around the world this week. When the phenomenon emerges, it will have some notable titles.

First of all, it is the Hunter’s Moonan ancient name for the full moon immediately after the autumnal equinox and the September Harvest Moon that increases, which indicates an acceleration in the hunting season. Some Native American tribes referred to the celestial event by different names — such as the Blood Moon, Travel Moon or Dying Grass Moon, according to the Maine Farmer’s Almanac — but each was used to mark a similar milestone shift in the year.

The upcoming Full Moon is also a supermoon, with the moon appearing brighter and larger to skywatchers on Earth due to its proximity to the planet, and is expected to be the most dazzling of the year so far.

Why does the moon appear brighter during a supermoon?

Like the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical, that is, oval-shaped. This means the space rock is at different distances from the planet depending on the time of month and where it is along that orbital path. Distances range from about 226,000 miles to 251,000 miles, according to NASA.

When the moon hovers around one of those closer distances during a full moon, it becomes a supermoon.

Supermoons occur only three or four times a year because the moon’s proximity to Earth rarely coincides with monthly full moons. They are also not identical. Astronomers generally consider a full moon to be ‘super’ if the moon’s position in orbit is at least 90% of the distance from the farthest point to Earth in the ellipses to the nearest point. The absolute closest point is called perigee.

When will the next full moon occur?

The Hunter’s Moon will be the third of four consecutive supermoons this week, NASA said. It falls on Thursday, October 17, and follows on the heels of the moon reaching perigee a day earlier. Therefore, the supermoon in 2024 is expected to be the largest and brightest of its kind, albeit by a very small margin.

The moon will reach its closest point to Earth on Wednesday evening around 9:00 PM Eastern Time, while a full moon will appear less than 12 hours later, around 7:30 AM in the same time zone. It will occur late Wednesday evening for places west of the International Date Line and early Friday morning for places east from New Zealand.

People should be able to see the moon appear full for about three days around that time, from Tuesday evening to Friday morning. Astronomers say the supermoon will be most noticeable right after sunset and recommend looking just above the horizon for the best chances of visibility.