When are the supermoons in November and December 2026?

The last two supermoons of 2026 fall exactly a month apart: the Beaver Moon on 24 November and the Cold Moon on 24 December. The December one is the closest full Moon of the year, about 356,740 km away, and in the Americas it is full on the evening of 23 December.

A supermoon is a full Moon near perigee, the closest point of the Moon’s slightly oval orbit. NASA notes that “supermoon” isn’t an official astronomical term; it usually means a full Moon within 90% of perigee distance. 2026 has three: 3 January, 24 November and 24 December. With 22 January 2027, November to January makes three in a row.

The two supermoons at a glance

	Beaver Moon	Cold Moon
Full Moon (UT)	24 Nov, 14:53	24 Dec, 01:28
US Eastern	24 Nov, 9:53 a.m.	23 Dec, 8:28 p.m.
London	24 Nov, 2:53 p.m.	24 Dec, 1:28 a.m.
Tokyo	24 Nov, 11:53 p.m.	24 Dec, 10:28 a.m.
Sydney	25 Nov, 1:53 a.m.	24 Dec, 12:28 p.m.
Distance at full Moon	360,768 km	356,740 km (closest of 2026)
Perigee	25 Nov, 20:58 UT	24 Dec, about 08:30 UT

Distances are centre to centre, from Fred Espenak’s full-Moon perigee tables.

Which evening should you go out?

The best moment is moonrise, not the minute of full Moon. A full Moon rises around sunset, and low over rooftops or hills it looks enormous. That’s the Moon illusion, a trick of perception, and it works on any full Moon. The supermoon adds a few percent on top.

City	Beaver Moon: moonrise	Cold Moon: moonrise
New York	23 Nov 3:29 p.m., 24 Nov 4:15 p.m.	23 Dec 3:58 p.m.
London	23 Nov 2:44 p.m., 24 Nov 3:17 p.m.	23 Dec 2:48 p.m.
Tokyo	24 Nov 3:48 p.m.	23 Dec 3:22 p.m., 24 Dec 4:32 p.m.
Sydney	24 Nov 7:34 p.m.	23 Dec 7:32 p.m., 24 Dec 8:36 p.m.

Times from timeanddate.com; bold marks the single best evening where there is one. In North America and Europe the Beaver Moon turns full during the day on the 24th, so the evenings of 23 and 24 November are equally good; the Cold Moon turns full on the evening of 23 December there. In Japan and Australia it’s the other way round: the Beaver Moon is full late on the 24th (Tokyo) or just after midnight (Sydney), and the Cold Moon turns full in the daytime on 24 December, so the 23rd and 24th both work. Either way, look northeast.

Why December’s supermoon is the one to see

It’s the closest full Moon of 2026 by a margin: about 4,000 km nearer than November’s. Perigee comes only about 7 hours after full Moon. On Espenak’s list of full Moons that come within 356,800 km of Earth this century there are 27 entries, and this is one of them.

It also rides high. The December full Moon sits opposite the low winter Sun, so in the Northern Hemisphere it climbs steeply and stays up all night. From New York it is above the horizon from 3:58 p.m. on the 23rd until 8:07 a.m. the next morning, more than 16 hours, and it passes 76° high around midnight. From Sydney the same Moon only reaches about 28°, low in the north.

You’ll find it in Gemini, forming a triangle with the twin stars Castor and Pollux, not far from Orion, as BBC Sky at Night Magazine describes it.

Will it actually look bigger?

Only a little. Japan’s national observatory (NAOJ) compares the 24 December Moon with the most distant full Moon of 2026, on 31 May: about 14% wider and 30% larger in area. NASA gives the same “up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter” for a perigee full Moon against an apogee one. Both make the same point: with nothing to compare it against, the eye can’t really tell. Against an average full Moon, the difference is smaller still.

What you can notice is the brightness on snow or a beach, and tides. Espenak puts the extra range of a perigean spring tide at about 5 cm over normal spring tides, not enough to cause the earthquakes that some headlines link to supermoons.

Photographing the supermoon

The big-Moon photos you see are shot from far away with a long lens, so the Moon looks huge next to a building or hill. On a phone, zoom in all the way, tap the Moon and pull exposure down until craters show. Shoot in the first 30 minutes after moonrise while there’s still some light in the sky.

I build Sky Map, so weigh this tip with that in mind: the app’s astronomical calendar lists full Moons, and the AR view shows where the Moon will rise over your actual horizon, so you can pick a spot with a good foreground. Tonight’s Sky Conditions shows the cloud cover for the evening. Sky Map: Constellation Finder is free to download on the App Store; more on the Sky Map app page.

Where the names come from

“Beaver Moon” and “Cold Moon” are traditional names that the Old Farmer’s Almanac uses for the November and December full Moons. November is when beavers shelter in their lodges for winter, and in the fur-trade era it was the season to trap them; December brings the cold, long nights. They aren’t astronomical terms, and other cultures have their own names.

One trade-off: a bright Moon washes out faint stars. The Geminid meteor shower peaks on 13 to 14 December, well before the Cold Moon, with a dark sky. More: meteor showers, the Moon and eclipses and which planets are visible tonight.

Sources: Fred Espenak, Full Moon at Perigee 2001-2100 (times, distances, closest-full-Moon list, tides); timeanddate.com Moon phases 2026 (UTC), moonrise in New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney; NAOJ: closest full Moon of 2026 (perigee time, size compared with 31 May); NASA Science: Supermoons (definition, 14% and 30%); BBC Sky at Night: supermoons 2026 (three supermoons, Castor and Pollux); Old Farmer’s Almanac: November and December full Moons (names). Checked 3 November 2026. Times are predictions; local times include daylight saving where it applies.