What’s up in the sky in November?
When’s the Next Supermoon?
Is there a Supermoon tonight? Here are the dates of the next Super Full Moons.
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November 24, 2026
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December 24, 2026
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January 22, 2027
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February 20, 2027
(The above dates are UTC. Find your local Moon phase times.)
Here at mungfali.galihkartiwa07.workers.dev, we’ve just changed the way we define a Supermoon—we explain why below. At the moment, we’re in the middle of updating our Moon phases page and other parts of the website to reflect this change.
Super Full Moons and Super New Moons
A Supermoon occurs when a New Moon or a Full Moon is particularly close to Earth and reaches its largest size in the sky.
Super Full Moons are popular events for skywatchers. They are around 6% bigger and 16% brighter than an average Full Moon—although this difference isn’t really noticeable in the sky.
Super New Moons can’t be seen, since New Moons are always hidden in the daytime sky. One exception is during a solar eclipse—for example, a Super New Moon on August 2, 2027, will help produce an extra-long totality.
On average, we get four Super Full Moons and four Super New Moons per year.
Supermoon dates and other special Moon events for this yearDoes a Supermoon Look Bigger?
Not really: a difference in size of a few percent from one month to the next isn’t something we can easily observe.
So why are we often convinced that a Super Full Moon is bigger than normal? The most common reason is that we’re looking at the Full Moon in the early evening or early morning, when the Moon is close to the horizon and we’re experiencing something called the Moon illusion.
Curiously, Supermoon or not, the Moon nearly always seems to look bigger when we see it close to the horizon.
We still don’t have a complete explanation for why this illusion happens. One thought is that objects on the ground affect our perception in a similar way to the famous Ponzo illusion.
The Science of Supermoons
Why do we get Supermoons? When we start to dig into the detail of the Moon’s orbit, things quickly start to get a bit complicated… With those cautionary words in mind, let’s take a look at why:
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Particularly close Earth-Moon distances only happen around New Moon or Full Moon
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The most widely used definition of a Supermoon is more intricate than most of us realize
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There is a pattern to Supermoons that repeats every 13½ months or so.
Two Kinds of Lunar Month
As the Moon orbits Earth, things are continuously changing.
The most obvious change is the Moon’s phase. Over a period of 29.5 days (on average), the Moon goes from New to First Quarter to Full to Third Quarter and back to New again. This is called a synodic month.
The phases of the MoonA less obvious change is the Moon’s distance from Earth. Over a period of 27.6 days (on average), the Moon goes from perigee to apogee and back to perigee again. This is called an anomalistic month.
Perigee is the Moon’s closest point to Earth; apogee is the Moon’s farthest point from Earth.
The key thing here is: the synodic month and the anomalistic month are not the same length. Over the course of a year, the two months go in and out of sync with each other. Consequently, perigee and apogee can coincide with any of the Moon’s phases—it depends on the month.
Perigee and Apogee Distances Vary with Moon Phase
How close is the Moon when it’s at perigee? And how far is the Moon when it’s at apogee? Perhaps surprisingly, it depends on the Moon’s phase.
Find perigees and apogees for any yearIf perigee (the closest distance) coincides with First or Third Quarter, the distance can be around 370,000 km (230,000 miles) or so. But if perigee coincides with New or Full Moon, the distance can be as little as 356,000 km (221,000 miles) or so—a closer distance.
In a similar way, if apogee (the farthest distance) coincides with First or Third Quarter, the distance can be around 404,000 km (251,000 miles); if apogee coincides with New or Full Moon, the distance can be around 407,000 km (253,000 miles)—a farther distance.
The key thing here is: the most extreme Earth-Moon distances only happen around New or Full Moon.
When a New or Full Moon is particularly close, it’s called a Super New Moon or a Super Full Moon. When it’s particularly far away, it’s called a Micro New Moon or a Micro Full Moon.
What is a Micromoon?The Sun’s Effect on the Moon’s Orbit
How does the Moon’s phase affect the Earth-Moon distance at perigee and apogee? It’s all to do with the Sun.
Around First or Third Quarter, the Earth, Moon, and Sun are not aligned in space. (This is why, from Earth, we see half the Moon’s face illuminated by the Sun.)
Around New Moon or Full Moon, however, the Earth, Moon, and Sun are roughly aligned, with the Moon in the middle at New Moon, and Earth in the middle at Full Moon. (This is why none of the Moon’s face is illuminated at New Moon—and why it’s completely lit up at Full Moon.)
The Sun’s gravity affects the Moon’s orbit around Earth. The effects change depending on the positions of the three bodies, which is why perigees and apogees tend to be more extreme around New or Full Moon.
Also, the effects add up differently at perigee and apogee. This is why there is a wider range of perigee distances than apogee distances.
Jan 2023: Closest New Moon since the Middle AgesHow Close Is a Supermoon?
So exactly how close to Earth does the Moon have to be to qualify as a Supermoon? There is no official definition—and we’ve just changed the way we do things here at mungfali.galihkartiwa07.workers.dev.
Until 2026, we used to use the following definition for a Supermoon: the Earth-Moon distance at the moment of New or Full Moon must be less than 360,000 km (which is about 224,000 miles). Roughly speaking, we get a distance of less than 360,000 km when a New Moon or Full Moon falls within one day of perigee.
In 2026 we switched to a more widely used definition—one that was favored by an astrophysicist at NASA named Fred Espenak. The new rule is a little bit complicated, and we explain it below.
Why did we switch? Well, our previous rule produced two Super Full Moons per year on average. At most, it gave us three (for example, in 2016); in some years, it gave us zero (like in the year 2000).
Our new rule produces four Super Full Moons per year on average. At most, it gives us five (for example, in 2029); at the very least, it gives us two (like in 2027). Bottom line: it gives us more Super Full Moons—and more Super New Moons—than the old rule.
So our previous rule was a little more exclusive: it meant we only listed Supermoons that were especially close to Earth.
Our new rule is a little more inclusive: it means we’re not missing any Supermoons that some of our friends and colleagues elsewhere might be celebrating!
The Supermoon Formula
The new, more widely used rule we switched to is usually described as when a New or Full Moon comes within 90% of perigee. In fact, it’s more of a 10% rule—let’s go through it step by step.
This definition of a Supermoon uses three variables:
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The Earth-Moon distance at New or Full Moon
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The Earth-Moon distance at the preceding or succeeding perigee
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The Earth-Moon distance at the succeeding or preceding apogee.
This gives us the perigee and apogee either side of the New or Full Moon: we’re looking at the Moon’s distances for one particular lunar orbit. Distances are measured from Earth’s center to the Moon’s center.
We’re interested in the range of Earth-Moon distances, from the lowest (perigee) to the highest (apogee). To qualify as a Supermoon, the Moon’s distance at the moment of New or Full Moon has to fall within the lowest 10% of this range.
Since the perigee and apogee distances change every month, the qualifying distance for a Supermoon is not a fixed number—it changes throughout the year.
In summary: if the Earth-Moon distance at New or Full Moon is within the lowest 10% of the range of lunar distances for that month, it is a Supermoon.
The Supermoon Zone
Here’s a rough sketch to illustrate the definition of a Supermoon. Earth is in the middle; the Moon’s orbit is shown by the solid white line.
The innermost dotted line shows the Moon’s distance at perigee; the outermost dotted line shows the Moon’s distance at apogee.
The pink zone highlights the lowest 10% of the range of Earth-Moon distances between perigee (the closest) and apogee (the farthest).
The dotted line around the outer edge of the pink zone is the Supermoon limit. A New of Full Moon has to be under this distance to qualify as a Supermoon.
In summary: in order for us to have a Supermoon, New or Full Moon has to occur while the Moon is moving through the pink zone.
How Moon Distances Really Look
What do these distances look like in real life? Here is the same illustration as above—only this time shown to scale.
This illustration contains the same elements as the previous one, but the proportions have changed. The pink zone is still there, but now it’s almost too narrow to see.
The above illustration is based on the Moon’s position at Full Moon on November 24, 2026, but it’s a good representation for any month.
Here are the actual distances for November 2026.
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Full Moon (24 Nov): 360,766 km (224,170 miles)
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Apogee (13 Nov): 405,619 km (252,040 miles)
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Perigee (25 Nov): 359,347 km (223,288 miles)
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Supermoon limit: 363,974 km (226,163 miles)
These numbers tell us that the Full Moon distance is under the Supermoon limit. So, this Full Moon falls within the pink zone in our illustration and is therefore a Supermoon. (It wouldn’t be a Supermoon under our old definition, because the Earth-Moon distance is more than 360,000 km.)
Supermoons Come in Groups
As we saw earlier, an anomalistic month (from one perigee to the next) is shorter than a synodic month (from one New Moon to the next)—but only by around two days or so. This means that if a Full Moon falls close to perigee in one month, a similar thing will happen in the following month.
The consequence of this is that, when Supermoons happen, they happen in groups—we get four or five Super Full Moons in a row (or four or five Super New Moons in a row).
Overall, the anomalistic and synodic months go in and out of sync with each other over a period of around 13½ calendar months. As a result, we get similar groupings of Supermoons every year—but they are shifted about a month and a half later on the calendar (because a calendar only has 12 months).
Although Super Full Moons come in groups of four or five, it’s possible for there to be only two or three Super Full Moons in a particular year. This happens if the grouping falls around the end of one year and the beginning of another.
2027 is one of only three years in the 21st century with two Super Full Moons. The year catches the final two in a group of four (from November 2026 to February 2027), but just misses the next group of four (from January to April 2028).
So, in a way, there’s nothing special about the number of Supermoons in a particular year. It’s simply to do with the way that calendar months don’t match up exactly with lunar months.
More Supermoons than Micromoons
The roughly similar lengths of anomalistic and synodic months produce another pattern: in months where we have a Super Full Moon, we often have a Micro New Moon (and vice versa). This is because a Full Moon and a New Moon are separated by about two weeks—and so too are a perigee and an apogee.
Overall, there are more Supermoons than Micromoons. This is yet another consequence of the way the Sun’s gravity affects the Moon’s orbit. (Fun fact: the Sun exerts more than twice as much gravitational force on the Moon as Earth does.)
The following chart shows the number of Super Full Moons and Micro Full Moons in each year of the 21st century. The years run along the horizontal axis, from 2001 on the left to 2100 on the right.
The vertical axis runs from 0 at the bottom to 5 at the top. The red line tells us how many Full Moons qualify as a Supermoon in a given year; the blue line tells us how many Full Moons qualify as a Micromoon in a given year.
For example, in the years 2027, 2044, and 2062 there are two Super Full Moons. In the years 2022 and 2084 there are zero Micro Full Moons.
Over this entire period of 100 years, there are 398 Super Full Moons and 246 Micro Full Moons.
A Reason to Look Up
Supermoons are one of the many fascinating rhythms produced by the intricate dance of the Earth, Moon, and Sun.
There’s never a bad time to go outside and look at a Full Moon. But a Super Full Moon is a particularly good opportunity for us to look up and appreciate Earth’s constant companion.