When is the next full moon?

📌 Stunning images of the moon from NASA space missions

Here is the list of full moons for 2024 along with their traditional names:

1. Jan. 25 — 12:54 p.m. — Wolf Moon

2. Feb. 24 — 7:30 a.m. — Snow Moon

3. March 25 — 3 a.m. — Worm Moon

4. April 23 — 7:49 p.m. — Pink Moon

5. May 23 — 9:53 a.m. — Flower Moon

6. June 21 — 9:08 p.m. — Strawberry Moon

7. July 21 — 6:17 a.m. — Sturgeon Moon

8. Aug. 19 — 2:26 p.m. — Blue Moon

9. Sept. 17 — 10:34 p.m. — Corn Moon

10. Oct. 17 — 7:26 a.m. — Hunter’s Moon

11. Nov. 15 — 4:28 p.m. — Beaver Moon

12. Dec. 15 — 4:02 a.m. — Cold Moon

Please note that all times are in Eastern Time.

What is a full moon?

A full moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. This means that the lunar hemisphere facing Earth—the near side—is completely sunlit and appears as a circular disk. The full moon occurs roughly once a month.

The reason we see a full moon is because of the way the Moon orbits the Earth. One half of the Moon is always illuminated by the Sun. As the Moon progresses through its orbit, the amount of the illuminated lunar surface visible from Earth changes, creating the phases.

The Moon appears full when it reaches the halfway point of its orbit—that is, when it is directly opposite the Sun, with Earth in between. This is also why a full moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.

However, due to the Moon’s orbit being inclined by about 5.145° from the ecliptic (the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun), the Moon is not generally perfectly opposite from the Sun during the full phase. Therefore, a full moon is in general not perfectly full except on nights with a lunar eclipse as the Moon crosses the ecliptic at opposition from the Sun.

The time interval between a full moon and the next repetition of the same phase, a synodic month, averages about 29.53 days1. Therefore, in those lunar calendars in which each month begins on the day of the new moon, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th day of the lunar month.