The October Full Moon is the 10th of this year’s 12 named Full Moon phases. The Full Moon will peak this weekend when its Earth-facing side is completely lit by the Sun. Unlike the burning heart of the solar system, the Moon does not glow with any light of its own and instead reflects different amounts of sunlight each night.
When is the Full Hunter’s Moon this month?
Tonight (October 10) the Moon is still in its Waxing Gibbous phase.
In this phase, our side of the Moon is only about 90 percent illuminated.
Over the next two days, however, the Moon will slowly fill out and peak on Sunday.
The Hunter’s Moon will peak on Sunday, October 13, at around 10.07pm BST (9.07pm UTC).
Here in the UK, the Full Moon will peak about three-and-a-half hours after moonrise.
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The Moon’s named phases originate in the time-keeping traditions of Native American tribes in the modern-day US.
Different tribes would give the Moon various names to keep track of the changing seasons.
Each name would reflect a specific change in the landscape or signal the time or hunting or gathering actives.
The Pink Moon in April, for instance, is named after a type of pink wildflower that appears around the time of Spring.
Similarly, the Strawberry Moon in May signalled wild strawberries would soon be ripe and ready to gather.
A Cold Moon in December, following the naming convention, was named after the chilling wintry weather setting in.
According to the almanac, the first use of the term Hunter’s Moon can be traced back to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1710.
The October Full Moon is also sometimes known as the Harvest Moon, if it happens to be the closest Full Moon to the Autumn Equinox.
As a result, the Harvest Moon can appear in September or October and the Hunter’s Moon can appear in either October or November.
The Moon is also sometimes known as the Travel Moon, Sanguine Moon, Dying Grass Moon or Blood Moon.
When are all of the named Full Moons this year?
The Royal Observatory Greenwich said: “The number of Moon names differs slightly from tribe to tribe, but many assign either 12 or 13 full moons to the year.”
These names were then adopted by colonial Americans and worked their way into popular culture.
January 21 – Wolf Moon
February 19 – Snow Moon
March 21 – Worm Moon
April 19 – Pink Moon
May 18 – Flower Moon
June 17 – Strawberry Moon
July 16 – Buck Moon
August 15 – Sturgeon Moon
September 14 – Full Corn Moon
October 13 – Hunter’s Moon
November 12– Beaver’s Moon
December 12 – Cold Moon