The full corn moon — the final full of summer in the Northern Hemisphere — will turn full on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, and be best viewed from North America that evening during dusk as it rises in the east. A few hours earlier, the full moon will have traveled through Earth’s shadow, causing a “blood moon” total lunar eclipse visible on the other side of the world, similar to one in North America last March.
The corn moon will turn full at 2:10 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. It will look full the nights either side. The best time to watch it rise in North America will be at moonrise at dusk later that day.
September’s full moon is often called the harvest moon. However, that name is given to the full moon closest to the equinox on Sept. 22. This year, that means the next full moon, on Oct. 7, is closest, so gets that name.
Like the harvest moon, the corn moon takes its name from the fact that crops are harvested at this time of year in North America. According to EarthSky, September’s full moon is also known as the fruit moon. Cultural and seasonal names for the full moon vary hugely across the world.
A total lunar eclipse is a global event, but only the night side of Earth can witness it. For all stages of the eclipse on Sept. 7-8, 2025, parts of Asia, Australia and the Pacific will be on the night side while the Americas will be on the day side of Earth. No part of the eclipse will be seen from North or South America.
For North America, the sight will be not of a “blood moon,” but of a typical full moon. A full moon always looks at its best when it first appears above the eastern horizon during dusk. Find an elevated location or an east-facing coastline with a clear view of the eastern horizon. To find the best time to see it appear from where you are, consult a moonrise calculator. Here are some sample times :
Although no part of it will be visible from North America, September's full moon will, for some observers, also be a total lunar eclipse. Similar to the event seen in North America on March 13-14, 2025, this event will be visible from parts of Asia, Australia and the Pacific. For observers who can see the eclipse, totality — when the lunar surface turns completely red — will last 82 minutes. The entire eclipse, including the penumbral and partial phases (as the full moon moves through Earth’s fuzzy outer shadow, the penumbra, and into its dark umbra), will last five hours and 27 minutes. According to Timeanddate.com, 4.9 billion people will see the entire eclipse in September from beginning to end.
Eclipses always come in pairs and occasionally threes, with every lunar eclipse preceded and/or followed by a solar eclipse. That’s because the moon’s orbital path intersects the sun’s path through Earth’s sky (the ecliptic) twice each month. If it crosses the ecliptic as a full moon, it causes a lunar eclipse. Two weeks later, it will cross the ecliptic as a new moon, causing a solar eclipse, or vice versa. On Sept. 21, 2025 — two weeks after a total lunar eclipse — a partial solar eclipse will be seen from New Zealand, the South Pacific and Antarctica.
The corn moon is the ninth of 12 full moons in 2025. A solar year is 365.24 days, while a lunar year is around 354.37 days, so sometimes there are 13 full moons in one calendar (solar) year — as in 2023 and next in 2028. Of the 12 full moons in 2025, three will be “supermoons” and two “blood moon” total lunar eclipses. The next full moon will be the harvest moon, the year’s first “supermoon,” on Monday, Oct. 7, 2025.