2024’s Final Supermoon: When Best To See It

This week’s supermoon will be the last this year.

This fourth and final supermoon of the year will appear larger and brighter than a typical full moon as it reaches roughly 225,000 miles from Earth on Thursday, just ahead of its official full phase on Friday.

This year’s supermoon sequence began in August, and the next won’t arrive until 2025, when three supermoons are expected, starting in October.

The supermoon will rise after the peak of the Taurid meteor shower and just before the Leonid meteors begin their display.

October’s supermoon came in closer by about 2,800 miles, marking it as the nearest of 2024.

When do Supermoons Take Place?

This year has featured a series of four supermoons.

The one in August was about 224,917 miles from Earth, while September’s supermoon brought the moon even closer at 222,131 miles.

That same night, much of the Americas, Africa, and Europe witnessed a partial lunar eclipse, as Earth’s shadow appeared to take a small “bite” out of the moon.

October’s supermoon, at 222,055 miles, was the closest.

When is the Next Supermoon?

November’s Supermoon will approach Earth on Thursday before reaching full phase the next day.

In 2025, there will be three supermoons beginning in October.

What is a Supermoon?

The term “supermoon” isn’t scientific but rather a popular nickname.

“The term ‘supermoon’ is a vague, nonscientific term, and so different people define it in different ways,” Darren Baskill, a physics and astronomy lecturer at the University of Sussex in the U.K., previously told Newsweek.

“One common definition is to say that we have a supermoon when the moon is within 90 percent of its average distance away from the Earth—but which average distance? Some say within 90 percent of the average Earth-moon separation for that particular month, while others say within 90 percent of the average Earth-moon separation for that entire year,” Baskill said.

“There is no overall consensus. Depending on which of those definitions you use, you can have three or four supermoons per year. The scientific term for supermoon is perigee syzygy of the Earth—Moon—Sun system, which to me sounds much more exciting.”

During a supermoon, the moon can appear up to 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than when it’s at its farthest point, or apogee—which is like comparing the size of a nickel to a quarter.

Supermoons happen several times a year because the moon’s orbit and phases often align.

“A supermoon is the result of a full moon occurring when the moon is near its closest point to the Earth in its orbit,” Anna Gammon-Ross, senior planetarium astronomer at the Royal Museums Greenwich in London, previously told Newsweek.

“This can happen because the moon orbits the Earth on an elliptical path rather than a circular one. As a supermoon means that the moon is a little closer to us, it will appear slightly bigger in the sky.”

Scientists say the difference on size can be almost imperceptible to an observer.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press