People are over the moon about the phenomenon.
Stargazers should gear themselves up for a celestial spectacular. The first supermoon of 2025 will take to the night sky on October 6, 2025, marking the first of three of these lunar spectaculars this year.
This cosmic phenomenon goes down on around midnight Eastern Time when the full moon will be situated opposite the sun, so the direct sunlight lights it up, USA Today reported. It will also be closer to Earth than it is all year — a phenomenon known as a perigee — making it appear 30% brighter and up to 14% larger than normal, Pix11 reported.
The event is colloquially dubbed the “Harvest Moon” because it occurs closest to the fall equinox, historically helping guide farmers as they harvested the last of the summer cornucopia before the cold weather arrived, Space.com reported.
Now, the phenomenon is “an annual, worldwide event when moon enthusiasts come together to enjoy our natural satellite,” NASA declared in its video “What’s Up: October 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA.” “You can attend or host a moon-viewing party, or simply observe the Moon from wherever you are.”
The Harvest Moon will peak at around 11:47 p.m., but will also be visible on Sunday and Tuesday as well.
It will be particularly full around moonrise at 6:08 p.m. due to a phenomenon called “moon illusion,” in which our mind is fooled into thinking our natural satellite is larger than it is because we have no foreground objects for reference.
In the hour following moonrise, the supermoon will be tinted orangeish-yellow because of Earth’s atmosphere scattering the blue light reflecting from its surface, while allowing longer, redder wavelengths through.
The National Weather Service forecast shows clear skies for the tri-state area into northern New York, meaning Tri-State moon-gazers will have a front row seat to see this rad moon rising.
But don’t worry if you miss Monday night’s lunar extravaganza — stargazers can catch the phenomenon two more times before year’s end with the “Beaver Moon” on November 5 and December 4’s Cold Moon.
In fact, experts recommend that the moonstruck watch the moon regularly as its so-called fuller, brighter figure is actually more subtle than one would think.
“I would encourage people to go out and look at the moon, not just Monday or Tuesday, but later in the week, over the course of a month, over several months, to notice changes in the moon,” said Noah Petro, project scientist for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which aims to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole in 2027, CNN reported.