The Year's First Supermoon Is Tonight

Monday's full moon will look bigger, brighter than usual
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 6, 2025 5:07 AM CDT
The Year's First Supermoon Is Tonight
The full moon rises in the over a beer sign in the outfield at Kauffman Stadium during a baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.   (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

The moon will appear slightly larger and brighter Monday night during what's known as a supermoon, the AP reports. October's supermoon is the first of three this year. It happens when a full moon is closer to Earth in its orbit. That makes the moon look up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year, according to NASA. The subtle difference happens a few times a year, sometimes coinciding with other astronomical events such as lunar eclipses. "It's not really very unusual," says Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer with the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Everyone in the world can see a supermoon without special equipment if clear skies permit. But the difference can be tough to discern, especially if people haven't observed the regular moon on the nights leading up. "If you go out and just look at the moon when it's very high in the sky, there is nothing relative to it to give you an idea of how big it looks," Pitts says. In the latest viewing, the moon will pass within about 224,600 miles of Earth. The closest supermoon of the year is slated for November, followed by another in December.

The spectacles continue in 2026 with two lunar eclipses: a total eclipse across much of North America, Asia, and Australia in March, and a partial one in August across the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

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