Hunter’s Moon follows the Harvest Moon and is near Saturn

When and where to look in 2026: For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the bright, round Hunter’s Moon – the full moon following the Harvest Moon – rises in the east around sunset on October 25. And be sure to watch for the near round moon on the nights before and after that, too.

Crest of the full moon falls at 4:12 UTC on October 26, 2026. That’s 11:12 p.m. CDT in central North America.

Characteristics of the Hunter’s Moon: The moon is roundest on the day that it’s full. And, on the day of full moon, the moon will rise close to the time of sunset. But the nights before and after full moon will feature a round-looking moon, too. And, like the Harvest Moon, the Hunter’s Moon is characterized by a shorter-than-usual time between successive moonrises. You’ll notice that for several nights in a row around the night of full Harvest moon. So Northern Hemisphere viewers will see several nights of full-looking moons in twilight skies, ascending in the east as the sun sinks below the western horizon.

For the Southern Hemisphere, the nights around this full moon feature a longer-than-usual time between successive moonrises. So, for the southern part of the globe, the moon will rise on these nights in a sky that’s already dark.

What’s special about a Hunter’s Moon?

A full moon is always opposite the sun in space, and opposite the sun in our sky. So, all full moons rise in the east as the sun sets in the west. And all full moons set in the west around sunrise. They are highest in the sky in the middle of the night.

But the various full moons have different characteristics.

On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. But when a full moon happens close to the autumnal equinox – either a Harvest or a Hunter’s Moon – the moon (at mid-northern latitudes) rises only about 30 to 35 minutes later daily for several days before and after the full moon. The reason is that the ecliptic – or the moon’s orbital path – makes a relatively narrow angle with the evening horizon around the time of the autumnal equinox.

The result is that there’s a shorter-than-usual lag time between successive moonrises around the full Hunter’s Moon.

Early evening moonrises make every Hunter’s Moon special. Every full moon rises around sunset. After the full Hunter’s Moon, you’ll see the moon ascending in the east relatively soon after sunset for a few days in a row at northerly latitudes.

A great source of moonrise times is the Custom Sunrise Calendar. Once you get to that page, be sure to click on the boxes for “moon phases” and “moonrise and moonset times.”

By the way, since the Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the equinox, it can come either before or after it. So the Harvest Moon can sometimes fall in October, which it does every three or four years. When the Harvest Moon occurs in October, the Hunter’s Moon – the full moon following the Harvest Moon – will land in early November.

That’ll happen next in 2028.

A note to those in Southern Hemisphere

If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, your Harvest and Hunter’s Moons center on the March equinox, your autumnal equinox. Much of what we say in this post – the general information about the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons – applies to you, too … next March and April.

Right now, your full moon will be doing the opposite of a Hunter’s Moon. That is, for the Southern Hemisphere around the time of the September and October full moons, there is a longer-than-usual time between moonrises on successive nights.

How did the Hunter’s Moon get its name?

There are many stories surrounding the names of the full moons, including the Hunter’s Moon. From a practical standpoint, the Harvest Moon and the subsequent Hunter’s Moon provided extra light in the evenings for farmers and hunters to finish their tasks.

Every full moon has a slew of nicknames tied to months of the year. But some full moon names, such as the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons, are tied to the seasons.

In North America, the Harvest Moon was a time when the bright moon meant farmers could stay out later working in their fields and gathering in their crops before the first freeze. After the harvest, farmers would turn to hunting deer and other game to bolster their food stores before winter. The bright light of the full moon and almost full moons would let them hunt into the evening hours. So, we call it a Hunter’s Moon.

Who named the Harvest and Hunter’s Moon? Those names probably sprang to the lips of farmers and hunters throughout the Northern Hemisphere, on autumn evenings at times of the full moon.

Is a Hunter’s Moon bigger or brighter?

No. The Hunter’s Moon is just an ordinary full moon with a special path across our evening sky. Still, many of us do think the Hunter’s Moon looks bigger … or brighter … and more orange than usual. Why?

It is because the Hunter’s Moon has a powerful mystique. Many people look for it shortly after sunset around the time of full moon. After sunset around any full moon, the moon will always be near the horizon … because full moons rise at sunset. It’s the location of the moon near the horizon that causes the Hunter’s moon – or any full moon – to look big and orange in color.

Orange moon near the horizon. The orange color of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. It stems from the fact that, when you look toward the horizon, you are looking in through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze overhead. The atmosphere scatters blue light – that’s why the day sky looks blue. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of a horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes. So any full moon near the horizon takes on a yellow or orange or reddish hue.

Big moon near the horizon. The bigger-than-usual size of a moon seen near the horizon is something else entirely. It is a trick that your eyes are playing – an illusion – called the Moon Illusion.

2026 full moon is in Aries

The October full moon lies in front of one of three constellations. Two are of the zodiac, Pisces the Fishes and Aries the Ram. The other is a non-zodiacal constellation, Cetus the Whale.

It most often falls in Pisces. But it occasionally lands in Aries, as it does this year.

Infrequently, though, the October full moon passes through the large neighboring constellation to their south, Cetus the Whale.

Bottom line: The Hunter’s Moon – this year’s October full moon – falls on the overnight of October 25 for North America. It’s found in front of the constellation Aries and it’s near the planet Saturn.