Look up! The year’s third supermoon will grace the sky Wednesday night
The term supermoon isn’t an official astronomical term, but it’s become a popular way to describe the closest full moons.
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November’s full moon occurs early Wednesday at 8:19 a.m. This is the closest full moon of 2025.
It’s a perigee moon and also fondly known as a supermoon. Now you may be thinking, wasn’t last month’s moon also a supermoon? Yes, it was, but this one is the real supermoon. It’s actually the closest one of the year.
The term supermoon isn’t an official astronomical term, but it’s become a popular way to describe the closest full moons (or perigee moons). The moon’s orbit is an ellipse, and sometimes it’s a little closer to Earth and at other times, it’s farther. It was coined by an astrologer back in the late 1970s.
According to NASA, the full moons that come within 90% of perigee are considered supermoons, and that’s why we have three this year.
The November full moon will come to perigee at 5:30 p.m. at a close distance of 221,726 miles from Earth. The full moons from October and December are also considered supermoons with distances of 223,578 miles and 221,906 miles, respectively.
These distances probably don’t mean too much to the casual observer, and it may be hard to even tell if the moon looks bigger or brighter.
When comparing a moon in perigee to when one is in apogee (when it’s farthest from Earth and this is also known as micromoon), it’s 14% larger and up to 30% brighter. The next apogee full moon will occur next year on May 31, 2026, so try to remember what this one looked like to compare.
The moon always appears much larger as it rises over the horizon. That may be the best time to view. Just make sure you head out as the sun is setting and look in the opposite direction. You can follow the moon all night as it moves higher and almost overhead in the autumn night sky.
