The full moon
As of October 27, 2026, the Hunter's Moon has passed. It was full on October 26 at 12:12 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, in Taurus. West of the Eastern time zone that peak fell on the evening of October 25. The next full moon is Tuesday, November 24, at 9:53 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, in Gemini. The one after that is Wednesday, December 23, at 8:28 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, in Cancer.
The next full moons
Times are Eastern, from the standard almanac reckoning of the instant the Moon is exactly opposite the Sun. The Moon looks full for a night on either side of that minute. You do not need to be awake for the peak to see it.
| When | Name | Sign | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 26, 2026, 12:12 a.m. EDT | Hunter's Moon | Taurus | Passed. The full moon after the Harvest Moon. |
| Nov 24, 2026, 9:53 a.m. EST | Beaver Moon | Gemini | Next. Counted as a supermoon by the Old Farmer's Almanac and by Astronomy magazine. The exact minute is morning in the east, so look the evenings of Nov 23 and 24. |
| Dec 23, 2026, 8:28 p.m. EST | Cold Moon | Cancer | Also a supermoon, the second of a run that continues into January 2027. Evening in every U.S. time zone. |
A full moon falls about every 29.5 days. 2026 has thirteen of them, because May had two. The names in the table are the traditional North American almanac names, drawn from Algonquin usage and kept by colonial calendars. They name the month. They do not name your week.
What "full" means
The Moon does not make its own light. We see the half of it the Sun is shining on. At new moon, that lit half faces away from us and the Moon is near the Sun in the sky. About two weeks later the Moon has walked halfway around the zodiac, the Earth is between them, and the lit half faces us. That is a full moon. It rises around sunset and sets around sunrise, which is why a full moon owns the night in a way a crescent does not.
The sign of a full moon is the sign opposite the Sun's sign. In late October 2026 the Sun is in Scorpio, so the full moon falls in Taurus. In late November the Sun is in Sagittarius, so the full moon falls in Gemini. On December 23 the Sun has entered Capricorn, and the full moon is in Cancer. Cancer hosts two full moons in 2026, January 3 and December 23, because the year both opens and closes with the Sun in Capricorn. That is calendar geometry, not a special favor.
Supermoon, without the poster
The Moon's orbit is an oval. Perigee is the near end, apogee the far end. A supermoon is a full moon that happens close to perigee, so the Moon is a little nearer and a little brighter than a full moon at the far end. How close counts is a choice, not a law of physics. That is why one list includes a moon the next list skips. The Old Farmer's Almanac calls the November 24 Beaver Moon the first of three supermoons in a row, with December 23 and the January 2027 full moon after it. Astronomy magazine lists November 24 and December 23 the same way.
The difference a careful eye can see, set against a full moon at apogee, is on the order of a few percent in size and a more noticeable difference in brightness. It is not a different object. Tides run a little higher. None of that is an instruction. You do not owe the Moon an errand because it is near.
The names, and the use of them
Hunter's Moon is the full moon after the Harvest Moon. In 2026 the Harvest Moon was September 26, so October 26 took the hunter's name. The old reason given is practical: in autumn the Moon's path meets the horizon at a shallow angle, so for a few evenings it rises soon after sunset and throws light on open fields. Beaver Moon and Cold Moon are the November and December names in the same almanac line. They are worth knowing because you will see them in headlines. They are not a forecast.
A full moon is also not your birth chart. The chart is the sky when you were born, and it stays put. Today's Moon is a transit, a moving light compared with that fixed chart. If you want the comparison done properly, it starts from your date, time, and place, not from a headline. The horoscope on this site is the sun-sign reading, one text for everyone born under a sign, kept by date so the day is not thrown away. It is a different, broader thing than a chart, and it should stay that way.
Common questions
When is the next full moon?
Tuesday, November 24, 2026, at 9:53 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. It is the Beaver Moon, in Gemini. The Moon is below the horizon at the exact minute for much of North America, so the round Moon to look at is the evening before and the evening of the 24th. After that, the Cold Moon is Wednesday, December 23, 2026, at 8:28 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, in Cancer.
What is a supermoon?
A full moon that happens near perigee, the point in the Moon's orbit closest to Earth. There is no single official cutoff, which is why one almanac counts a moon that another leaves off. The Old Farmer's Almanac and Astronomy magazine list November 24, December 23, and the full moon of January 2027 as a run of three. The difference in the sky is real and modest: a bit closer, a bit brighter.
What sign is the full moon in?
The full moon sits opposite the Sun, so its sign is the sign facing the Sun's sign. On October 26, 2026 the Sun was in Scorpio and the full moon was in Taurus. On November 24 the full moon is in Gemini. On December 23 it is in Cancer, the Sun having moved into Capricorn.
Does a full moon change my birth chart?
No. Your birth chart is the sky at the moment and place you were born, and it does not update. A full moon is today's sky. Astrologers compare the two and call the comparison a transit. The chart you were born with is still the chart.