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)
Monday night, skywatchers can catch a glimpse of a supermoon, when the moon appears slightly larger and brighter than usual, the AP reports. October’s supermoon is the first of three for 2025 and occurs when a full moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit. According to NASA, this proximity can make the moon look up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter compared with the faintest full moon of the year.
The phenomenon, which happens a few times annually, sometimes aligns with other astronomical events such as lunar eclipses. “It’s not really very unusual,” said Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
Supermoons are visible worldwide without special equipment, provided the skies are clear. However, the difference can be subtle, especially if viewers haven’t recently observed the regular moon. “If you go out and just look at the moon when it’s very high in the sky, there’s nothing relative to it to give you an idea of how big it looks,” Pitts explained.
This month, the moon will pass within roughly 224,600 miles of Earth. The year’s closest supermoon will follow in November, with a third expected in December.
Looking ahead to 2026, skywatchers can anticipate two lunar eclipses: a total eclipse visible across much of North America, Asia, and Australia in March, and a partial eclipse spanning the Americas, Africa, and Europe in August.
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