October’s full harvest moon is a supermoon. Here’s what to know

Keep your eyes alongside the horizon on Monday evening to see the primary supermoon of the 12 months.

October’s full moon, additionally referred to as the harvest moon, shall be seen from Monday evening into early Tuesday. The silvery orb shall be at its fullest round 11:48 p.m. ET Monday, in accordance to EarthSky.

“The joy of a full moon is that if it’s cloudy in your neighborhood on Monday night on the 6th, you can look Tuesday, and the moon will still look fairly full,” mentioned Noah Petro, challenge scientist for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which goals to land astronauts close to the lunar south pole in 2027.

The moniker harvest moon signifies that it’s the full moon occasion closest to the autumnal equinox, or the primary day of fall. Historically, the moon’s brilliant mild helped farmers full their harvests for the 12 months, in accordance to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

This moon would be the first of three back-to-back supermoons this 12 months. A supermoon occurs when the moon reaches perigee, or its nearest point to our planet, making it seem bigger and fuller.

“It’s a very subtle effect that you won’t always be able to notice unless you’re looking at the moon regularly,” Petro mentioned. “And so I would encourage people to go out and look at the moon, not just Monday or Tuesday, but later in the week, over the course of a month, over several months, to notice changes in the moon.”

October’s harvest moon happens two weeks after NASA introduced its latest class of astronauts who could sooner or later enterprise to the moon and Mars. And early subsequent 12 months, a crew of 4 veteran astronauts will fly on the Artemis II mission that may circle the moon.

“What makes the moon coming up on October 6 so special is what we learned (recently) — that Artemis II is launching to the moon early next year,” Petro mentioned, “and so we have an opportunity coming up very soon, to be able to not only have a moon that we look at but also a moon that’s got humans visiting it.”

Here’s when to look out for the upcoming supermoons, in accordance to the Farmers’ Almanac:

There are additionally alternatives to observe different celestial exercise, together with some imminent meteor showers that may grace the evening sky.

Here are the height dates of meteor showers anticipated in 2025, in accordance to the American Meteor Society and EarthSky.

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