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Hunter’s Supermoon rises this week, the biggest full moon of 2024. Here’s how to see it

Vaseline October 16, 2024

The largest full moon of 2024 rises this week.

On Thursday (October 17) at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT), the moon will officially become full. And less than 11 hours earlier, at 8:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday evening (0048 GMT on October 17), the moon will also arrive at perigee, its closest point to Earth, at a distance of 220,000 miles (357,174 km) away. .

The result of these two events will be a 14% brighter than average full moon later this week, early into the weekend, accompanied by unusually high and low tides. Colloquially, a full moon that coincides with perigee is called a “supermoon.”

Dr. Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astrophysicist and eclipse expert, defines a supermoon as a full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90 percent of its closest approach to Earth. Dr. Espenak has compiled a list of all supermoons (including those in the 90 percent category) that will occur in the 21st century.

According to Dr. Espenak, there will be four supermoons in 2024 August, SeptemberOctober and November. But this week’s supermoon is the one where the full moon and perigee fall closest together.

a big bright full moon.

October’s full moon occurs at 7:26 a.m. EDT, 4:26 a.m. PDT, or 11:26 a.m. GMT, on Thursday, October 17. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

In contrast, the full moon on April 13, 2025 will closely coincide with apogee, the moon’s furthest point from Earth. On that date, the moon will be about 50,000 km further away and appear 14 percent smaller compared to the evening of October 16. The antonym of a supermoon is therefore a ‘micromoon’.

Native Americans attached a name to each month’s full moon, and traditionally October’s full moon was known as the Hunter’s Moon. Now that the leaves are falling and the deer have fattened up, now is the time to hunt. Because the fields have recently been harvested, hunters can drive over the stubble and more easily spot foxes and other animals that have come out to feed and are captured after the harvest for a Thanksgiving banquet.

Related: ‘It was 3 hours of magic’: Spectacular auroras thrill stargazers around the world (and the Internet) as an intense geomagnetic storm batters Earth (Photos)

Thursday or Wednesday?

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Celestron NexStar 4SE telescope on a white background — (Image credit: Celestron)

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On Thursday, many television weather makers will likely urge their viewers to go outside that evening to enjoy the sight of a “Full super moonBut in reality, the moon will be many hours past full that night (so essentially a waning moon phase) and even further away in time from the perigee point in its orbit.

But on Wednesday night, not only will the moon be very close or at perigee, but it will also be getting closer every hour to the time when it actually becomes full. So if you want to experience the full ‘supermoon effect’, Wednesday is your night.

Although in theory a full moon lasts only a moment, in reality that moment is imperceptible to ordinary observation, and for a day or so before and after most will speak of seeing the nearly full moon as ‘full’: the hatched strip is so narrow, and so slowly changing in apparent width, that it is difficult for the naked eye to tell whether it is present or which side it is on.

A large full moon hovers just above the Empire State Building in a scene of the New York skyline.

A woman and her child watch the Hunter’s Moon rise behind the Empire State Building as the sun sets in New York City on October 27, 2023, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey. (Image credit: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

High water moments

Every month ‘spring seasons’ occur when the moon is full and new; the word spring is derived from German jump – to ‘spring up’, and is not – as is often thought – a reference to the spring season. At these times, the moon and sun align with the Earth, so their tidal effects add up. The sun exerts just under half the tidal force of the moon.

‘Neap’ tides, on the other hand, occur at those times when the moon is in its first and last quarter and perpendicular to the sun. At these times the tides are weak.

However, the highest tides will not coincide with the perigee moon, but will actually lag behind for several days depending on the specific coastal location.

For example, in Boston Harbor, a peak height of 11 feet will occur on Friday at 12:11 a.m. EDT, nearly two days after perigee, while in Cape Fear, North Carolina, the highest tide (8 feet) will be reached on 9: 4pm EDT on Saturday.

Any coastal storm at sea around this time will almost certainly worsen coastal flooding problems.

The tidal force varies as the inverse cube of an object’s distance. This month the moon is 12.2% closer to perigee than to apogee. Therefore, at this full moon it will exert 42% more tidal force compared to the spring times for the “micro” full moon that will coincide with the peak next April.

Huge moon at moonrise and moonset

Typically, the variation in the distance to the moon is not immediately apparent to observers looking directly at the moon.

Or is it?

When the perigee moon is close to the horizon, it can appear absolutely enormous. That is the moment when the famous ‘moon illusion’ combines with reality and produces a truly breathtaking view. For reasons not fully understood to astronomers or psychologists, a low-hanging moon looks incredibly large when it floats near trees, buildings, and other foreground objects. The fact that the moon will be much closer than normal this weekend will only help this strengthen this strange effect.

a bright full moon rises over a bridge and a city skyline

The full Hunter’s Moon will rise over the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge in New York City on October 28, 2023, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey. (Image credit: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

So… a perigee moon, which rises in the east at sunset or falls in the west at sunrise, might make the moon appear so close that you almost feel like you can touch it. You can check this out for yourself by first noting the moonrise and moonset times for your area thanks to the US Naval Observatory.

If you want to get a closer look at the moon and other objects in the night sky, our guide to the best telescopes for beginners can help you find what you need. And if something portable is your preference, check out our best binoculars guide.

Editor’s note: If you take a beautiful photo of the Full Hunter’s Supermoon and would like to share it with Space.com, please submit images and comments to our skywatching inbox at [email protected].

Joe Rao is an instructor and guest lecturer in New York Hayden Planetarium. He prescribes on astronomy Natural history magazinethe Farmer’s almanac and other publications.