When is the next full moon?

A full moon is the moment the Moon sits on the far side of Earth from the Sun. We see its whole sunlit half, and the Moon rises around sunset and shines all night.

From one full moon to the next takes 29.53 days on average: 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. Astronomers call this the synodic month. A single cycle can run more than six hours shorter or longer, because the Moon's orbit is an ellipse and Earth doesn't circle the Sun at a constant speed. Twelve cycles add up to about 354 days, so full moons land about 11 days earlier on the calendar each year, and some years have 13 of them instead of 12.

In the US every month's full moon has a traditional name. Most come from Native American, colonial American and European folk calendars and were popularized by farmers' almanacs: Wolf Moon (January), Snow Moon (February), Worm Moon (March), Pink Moon (April), Flower Moon (May), Strawberry Moon (June), Buck Moon (July), Sturgeon Moon (August), Corn Moon (September), Hunter's Moon (October), Beaver Moon (November) and Cold Moon (December).

The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the fall equinox: usually September's, which then takes the place of the Corn Moon, and in some years October's. The Hunter's Moon is the one after it. A blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month and has nothing to do with color. A blood moon is a total lunar eclipse: Earth's shadow covers the full moon, and sunlight bent through our atmosphere turns it a coppery red. The tables on this page mark every eclipse.

A full moon happens at one moment for the whole Earth, but clocks around the world show different times. The full moon of December 2026 falls at 8:28 p.m. on December 23 in New York and 5:28 p.m. in Los Angeles, while in London it's already 1:28 a.m. on December 24, and in Tokyo 10:28 a.m. That's why calendars and apps from other countries sometimes give a different date.

Every time on this page is Eastern Time: EST (UTC-5) in winter and EDT (UTC-4) in summer, with the clock change already applied. For Central Time subtract one hour, for Mountain two and for Pacific three; Arizona, which skips daylight saving time, matches Pacific in summer. When a full moon falls shortly after midnight Eastern, it's still the evening before on the West Coast, and the note under the answer at the top of the page says so.

Full moons have set the rhythm of calendars for thousands of years. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, but the churches set that full moon by their own tables, with the equinox always on March 21. Usually the result matches astronomy, yet sometimes it's a month off: in 2019 the first full moon after the equinox came on the evening of March 20 (Eastern Time), but Easter wasn't until April 21, and 2038 will see the same gap. Passover begins at the full moon of the month of Nisan, the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is held at the full moon of the eighth lunar month, and the Buddhist festival of Vesak usually at the full moon in May.

Farmers' almanacs still print planting-by-the-Moon calendars: crops that grow above ground go in while the Moon is waxing, root vegetables while it's waning. Many people also time a haircut or a big cleanup to the moon phase, and the full moon is a popular time for personal rituals: taking stock, gratitude and letting go of what no longer serves you. These are customs and beliefs, not research-based advice, but many people find the rhythm helps them organize their month.