Full Moon Dates, November 2026 to April 2027 (Eastern Time), Plus What a Supermoon Is
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How we wrote this: Full moon times come from the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) moon phase data, which is given in Universal Time; we converted it to Eastern Time. Moonrise times are USNO data for New York City. The eclipse comes from NASA's lunar eclipse table and the supermoon explanation from NASA's Supermoons page. All checked October 29, 2026.
The full moon is the easiest sky event there is: no equipment, no dark-sky trip, and it happens every month. Here are the next six, with times you can put on a calendar.
Full moons, November 2026 to April 2027
USNO gives the exact instant the Moon is full. The Moon looks full to the eye for a night or so on either side.
| Full moon (USNO, Universal Time) | Eastern Time |
|---|---|
| November 24, 2026, 14:53 | Tuesday, Nov. 24, 9:53 AM EST |
| December 24, 2026, 01:28 | Wednesday, Dec. 23, 8:28 PM EST |
| January 22, 2027, 12:17 | Friday, Jan. 22, 7:17 AM EST |
| February 20, 2027, 23:23 | Saturday, Feb. 20, 6:23 PM EST (also a penumbral lunar eclipse; see below) |
| March 22, 2027, 10:44 | Monday, Mar. 22, 6:44 AM EDT (daylight saving time starts March 14, 2027) |
| April 20, 2027, 22:27 | Tuesday, Apr. 20, 6:27 PM EDT |
Note the December one: in Eastern Time it falls on December 23, the evening before Christmas Eve, even though the Universal Time date is the 24th.
When to look: moonrise on full moon nights
A full Moon rises around sunset, and a rising Moon near the horizon is the classic photo. USNO's data for New York City shows:
| Date | Moonrise | Sunset |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 24, 2026 | 4:16 PM | 4:32 PM |
| Dec. 23, 2026 | 3:58 PM | 4:33 PM |
| Feb. 20, 2027 | 5:32 PM | 5:37 PM |
Times shift by a few minutes for other East Coast cities; use USNO's free "Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day" tool for your location.
February 20, 2027: a penumbral lunar eclipse
NASA's lunar eclipse table lists a penumbral eclipse on February 20, 2027, with greatest eclipse at 23:14 Terrestrial Dynamical Time (about 6:13 PM EST) and visibility including the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. In New York the Moon rises at 5:32 PM that evening, so it will be low in the east during greatest eclipse.
Set expectations: in a penumbral eclipse the Moon passes only through Earth's faint outer shadow. NASA's table shows a negative umbral magnitude for this one, meaning the Moon doesn't touch the dark inner shadow. Expect a subtle grayish shading on one side of the Moon, not the red "blood moon" of a total eclipse.
What is a supermoon?
NASA explains that the Moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle. A supermoon happens when a full Moon coincides with the Moon's closest approach to Earth (perigee, about 226,000 miles away), compared with about 251,000 miles at its farthest (apogee). Key points from NASA's page:
- "Supermoon" isn't an official astronomical term; it typically describes a full Moon within at least 90% of perigee.
- At its closest, a full Moon can look up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the year's faintest full Moon. NASA notes that 14% is hard to notice by eye.
- Supermoons happen three to four times a year, always in a row.
- Because the Moon is closer, supermoons can cause higher tides than usual.
Because "supermoon" has no official definition, different publishers label different full moons as supermoons. The USNO times above are the precise part.
Make a family project of it
- Track the phases for a month: USNO's moon phase table lists every new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter.
- Compare moonrise photos on two full moons with the same zoom setting to see whether you can spot a size difference.
- Use the dark weeks: the new moon periods are best for meteors. The Geminids in December and the Quadrantids in January both fall near thin crescent moons this season.