‘Exceptionally close’ supermoon to shine in CA. How to see biggest moon of 2025
A radiant supermoon will soon shine bright in the California night sky.
The harvest moon will be the largest and most luminous full moon of 2025, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
“Rising low on the horizon, it will appear bigger, brighter and more golden than any other moon this year, casting long, glowing light across autumn fields, landscapes and evening skies,” the almanac said.
Here’s when to look up:
When to see the supermoon in California?
The 10th full moon of 2025 will reach peak illumination at 8:47 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 6, according to online calendar Time and Date.
The supermoon will be about 30% brighter and 14% larger than the average full moon, according to NASA.
The full moon will look bigger than usual because it’s happening at perigee — the point when the moon is at its closest to earth all month, NASA said.
“This is an exceptionally close full moon! Which explains its spectacular appearance,” Chelsea Gohd from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote in a blog post.
What are best ways to view October supermoon?
October’s harvest supermoon is the first of three supermoons scheduled to take place in 2025, the Old Farmer’s Almanac said.
The almanac advised skywatchers to seek out the October full moon when it’s rising or setting.
This is when the supermoon will appear largest, the almanac said.
Amateur astronomers should head to wide open landscapes such as fields or parks to capture the “scale and drama” of the biggest moon of the year, according to the alamanc.
How did the harvest moon get its name?
The October full moon is called the harvest moon, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
The moon’s name refers to the time of year when farmers would harvest fall crops ahead of the first frost of the season.
Since it falls close to the autumn equinox, the moon rises around the same time several nights in a row, providing farmers with more illumination in the evenings to pick produce.
The October moon has also been called the the hunter’s moon, the drying rice moon, the falling leaves moon and the freezing moon, the almanac said.
