Topline
The full harvest moon — the first of fall in the Northern Hemisphere — will turn full on Monday, Oct. 6, but in North America it will be best seen at moonrise on Tuesday, Oct. 7. It’s called the harvest moon because it’s the closest full moon to the equinox on Sept. 22, and its light traditionally helps farmers work all night to gather crops. As well as coinciding with the peak of the Draconid meteor shower, October’s harvest moon will be the first of four “supermoons” in a row to round out 2025.
Key Facts
The harvest moon will turn full at 11:49 p.m. EST on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. It will look full the night before and the night after, but the best time to watch it rise in North America will be at moonrise during dusk on Tuesday, Oct. 7, when it will appear on the eastern horizon shortly after sunset.
According to EarthSky, October’s full moon can be known as the harvest moon (if it’s the closest full moon to September’s equinox) or the hunter’s moon (if September’s full moon is the closest to the equinox).
The Draconid meteor shower will peak overnight on Oct.8-9, with about 10 “shooting stars” expected per hour, though the waning harvest moon will make them hard to see.
The moon’s orbital path around Earth is slightly elliptical, so each month, there’s a point when it’s farthest away (apogee) and closest (perigee). If a full moon coincides with a perigee, it’s closer to Earth and bigger in the night sky, and is colloquially known as a supermoon (though perigee full moon is the astronomical term).
A supermoon is generally defined as one that is 10% closer than the average distance. The moon’s average distance from Earth is 238,900 miles (384,472 km). The harvest moon will be 224,599 miles (361,457 kilometers) from Earth, making it the third-closest of 2025.
A full moon always looks at its best when it first appears above the eastern horizon during dusk. The sight is at its best when the moon rises shortly after sunset, which it does this month in North America, with the sturgeon moon rising a few minutes after the sun goes down.
Best Time To See The Full ‘harvest Moon’ Rise
To see the full harvest moon at its best, find an elevated location, an open field or an east-facing coastline with a clear view of the eastern horizon. To find the exact time to see it appear from where you are, consult a moonrise calculator. Here are some sample times :
- New York: sunset at 6:29 p.m. EST, moonrise at 6:36 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
- Los Angeles: sunset at 6:30 p.m. PST, moonrise at 6:47 p.m. PST on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
- London: sunset at 6:16 p.m. GMT, moonrise at 6:26 p.m. GMT on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
The ‘moon Illusion’
Moonrise is the best time to be subjected to the “moon illusion” during which the moon appears larger than usual. It’s an optical illusion caused by the human brain, which tends to see things close to the horizon as particularly large. Trees, buildings and mountains around the moon somehow accentuate its size. According to NASA, there’s no satisfying scientific explanation for exactly why we perceive the moon illusion. The effect is maximized for a supermoon, which means the moon is as big as it gets in the sky, albeit only about 10% larger.
Background
The harvest moon is the ninth of 12 full moons in 2025. A solar year is 365.24 days, while a lunar year is around 354.37 days, so sometimes there are 13 full moons in one calendar (solar) year — as in 2023 and next in 2028. Of the 12 full moons in 2025, three will be “supermoons” — of which the harvest moon is the first — with two “blood moon” total lunar eclipses (the first happened on March 13-14 and the second on Sept. 7-8). The next full moon will be the beaver moon, the year’s biggest “supermoon” (and the biggest since 2019), on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
