In the wee hours of Thursday morning, Angelenos will get their first glimpse of a double astrological delight: a hunter’s moon that also happens to be a supermoon.

October’s full moon is known as the hunter’s moon because it occurs around the start of hunting season and traditionally provided an important opportunity to spot prey lurking in recently harvested fields, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. A supermoon occurs when the full moon is at its closest possible point to Earth, making it appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year, according to NASA.

Vanessa Alarcon, the astrological observer at the Griffith Observatory, said it can be challenging for the human eye to pick up these differences in size and brightness, but that shouldn’t stop people from trying.

“That’s actually a really good reason for everyone to keep looking at the moon every month: so you’ll see each full moon and see how it changes,” she said. “I think the most exciting thing about these special moons is that they will get people back to looking at the sky and our closest neighbor in the solar system, which has kind of lost popularity because of all the light pollution around us.”

According to NASA, the Hunter moon will officially become full on Thursday at 4:26 a.m. PDT. It is the largest of four consecutive supermoons in 2024.

Alarcon recommends people view it around sunset on Friday, when it rises from the eastern horizon and appears particularly large.

And as people ogle the night sky this week, they should also look out for two additional celestial sightings: Saturn and the appearance of an ancient Oort Cloud comet, she added.

The comet, named C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, fell within viewing distance of Earth on Saturday and can still be viewed in the coming days, Alarcon said. It was discovered last year by astronomers in China and South Africa as it approached the inner solar system, and after this visit it won’t be seen again for 80,000 years, according to NASA.

October is also a good time to look at Saturn because the planet reached opposition in September, meaning Earth is right between Saturn and the sun, she said. Similar to a supermoon, this phenomenon makes Saturn appear brighter and larger in the sky because it is at its closest point to Earth, according to Space.com.

Viewers can see Saturn with the naked eye, but to see the rings they’ll need a backyard telescope. And people should do that quickly, because by 2025 the planet will have rotated at such an angle that its distinctive rings will temporarily disappear from view.