Supermoons and micromoons, 2026 to 2028

A supermoon is a full moon that happens near perigee, the close end of the Moon's slightly elliptical orbit; a micromoon is the same event at apogee, the far end. Astronomers call the first a perigee syzygy. The word "supermoon" came from astrology: Richard Nolle coined it in 1979 in Dell Horoscope magazine, defining it as "a new or full moon which occurs with the Moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit (perigee)." There is no official astronomical definition, which, as we will see, is exactly why published supermoon counts never quite agree.

Every super and micro full moon, 2026 to 2028

Times shown in your local time zone.

The closest full moon of this window comes on February 10, 2028, at 356,711 km, the closest full moon since January 2, 2018 (356,594 km). The farthest, on September 3, 2028, sits 49,437 km farther out: the whole supermoon story lives inside that swing.

One naming footnote: the table uses the traditional month names. In 2028 the full moon nearest the equinox falls on October 3, making it that year's true Harvest Moon by the strict rule, whatever the month table says. Our full moon calendar works the rule each year.

The supermoons nobody sees

New moons reach perigee just as often as full moons do, and a new-moon supermoon raises perigean spring tides exactly as effectively; the tides care about distance and alignment, not whether the lit side faces us. They get no headlines because there is nothing to look at: a new moon rises and sets with the Sun.

Times shown in your local time zone.

How much bigger, honestly

Stretched to the extremes, a perigee full moon (about 356,500 km) is about 14% wider and about 30% brighter than an apogee one (about 406,700 km); the brightness follows from the inverse-square law, 1.14 squared. But headlines compare against the extreme; your memory compares against the average. Versus an average full moon, a typical supermoon is about 7 to 8% wider and about 15 to 16% brighter, and no one, professional astronomers included, can detect that by eye without a side-by-side. The disk runs from about 29.4 to 33.5 arcminutes across the whole range, always about half a degree. What people actually notice on supermoon nights is a bright Moon plus the expectation of one. At its best, though, the numbers are real: a perigee full moon overhead can deliver about 0.32 lux, the brightest natural light the night sky offers.

Why supermoons come in runs

The phase cycle and the distance cycle run at different speeds: full moons repeat every 29.53 days (the synodic month) while perigee returns every 27.55 days (the anomalistic month). The two drift in and out of step with a beat period of about 411.8 days, the full moon cycle. While they are in step, three or four consecutive full moons all land near perigee, which is why supermoons arrive in runs each year rather than scattering at random; then the alignment drifts apart for most of a year. The very closest coincidences recur on decade scales, which is why record-setters are rare: the November 2016 supermoon was the closest full moon since January 1948. The two cycles each have a full profile here, the synodic month and the anomalistic month, and our cycle convergence lab lets you watch the 411.8-day beat emerge from the pair.

The counting problem

Ask three references how many supermoons a year has and you can get three answers, all defensible. This site and timeanddate draw a fixed line at 360,000 km. Sky & Telescope prefers 358,884 km (223,000 miles). Fred Espenak applies Nolle's 90 percent rule to each lunation's own perigee and apogee, which admits borderline moons a fixed line rejects. The distances themselves are facts on which everyone agrees to within a few kilometers; the label is a convention. Our tables above compute Espenak's per-orbit rule alongside our fixed line and flag every moon the looser rule admits that ours rejects, so you can see exactly where the definitions part ways.

Tides, honestly

The one physical effect worth planning around is the tide. Full and new moons always bring spring tides, the larger twice-monthly swing; when the syzygy also falls near perigee, the perigean spring tides (popularly "king tides") run higher still. NOAA's comparison: high tides during a perigean spring tide commonly run more than a foot above those at an apogean spring tide, and on coasts with huge tidal ranges, like Anchorage's 30-plus feet, the difference can exceed three feet. Against an ordinary spring tide the perigean bonus is more modest, typically inches. None of this floods anything by itself; the risk arrives when a perigean spring tide coincides with a storm surge or strong onshore winds, which can tip low-lying coasts into minor flooding. Our tides lesson builds the whole mechanism from differential gravity up.

The moon illusion is a different thing

The giant Moon people remember seeing on the horizon is not the supermoon effect; it is the moon illusion, a trick of perception that works identically at apogee. Measured with instruments, the horizon Moon is actually about 1.5 to 2% smaller in angular size than the same Moon overhead, because the horizon adds nearly an Earth radius to its distance. Why brains inflate the horizon Moon is genuinely unsettled science; NASA concedes there is no rock-solid explanation. The fingernail test settles it instantly: cover the risen Moon with a fingernail at arm's length, then repeat hours later with the Moon high, and the two fit the same nail.

No, they do not cause earthquakes

The claim took off in March 2011, when the Tohoku earthquake struck eight days before an unusually close full moon that had been pre-hyped as an "extreme supermoon." On the day of the quake the Moon sat about 396,500 km from Earth (a figure the ephemeris behind this page confirms), closer to apogee than perigee, and nearly two days short of first quarter: neither close nor aligned. Decades of earthquake catalogs checked against supermoon dates show no significant correlation, and the extra tidal stress of a perigee syzygy is small compared with the ordinary twice-daily tidal cycling the crust always experiences. The supermoon moves water measurably and rock negligibly.

Seeing one well

Skip the exact instant of full phase; the disk changes imperceptibly over hours. The show is moonrise or moonset during twilight, when the Moon hangs among foreground objects and the moon illusion, for once, works in your favor. Find your local moonrise time on The Moon page, pick a spot with something interesting on the eastern horizon, and arrive early. And be honest about the photographs: the skyline-dwarfing Moons online are telephoto compression, a 400 to 600 mm lens making any full moon tower over a distant foreground. The supermoon adds 7 percent; the lens adds hundreds.

Frequently asked questions

What is a supermoon?

A full (or new) moon that happens near perigee, the closest point of the Moon's slightly elliptical orbit. Astronomers call it a perigee syzygy; "supermoon" was coined by the astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and has no official astronomical definition. This page draws the common line at 360,000 kilometers, measured at the instant of the full or new moon.

How much bigger does a supermoon really look?

Against a full moon at apogee, up to about 14% wider and 30% brighter. Against an average full moon, only about 7 to 8% wider and 15 to 16% brighter, a difference nobody can see by eye without a side-by-side comparison. The whole Moon stays about half a degree across, roughly a fingernail at arm's length.

Why do supermoon lists disagree with each other?

Because the cutoff is a convention. This site and timeanddate use a fixed 360,000 kilometer line; Sky and Telescope uses 358,884 kilometers; Fred Espenak applies Nolle's original 90 percent rule to each orbit, which admits a few more moons each year. The distances are facts; where to draw the line is taste, so tallies of "how many supermoons this year" legitimately differ.

Do supermoons cause earthquakes or disasters?

No. The idea spread after the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake was followed eight days later by a close full moon, but on the day of the quake the Moon was about 396,500 kilometers away, nearer apogee than perigee. Decades of earthquake catalogs show no significant correlation with supermoon dates. The real, modest effect is on tides.

What is a micromoon?

The opposite extreme: a full moon near apogee, farther than 405,000 kilometers on this page's convention. It appears up to about 12% smaller than an extreme supermoon and about 5% smaller than average, and it makes exactly as little visual difference: without instruments, no one can tell.

When is the best time to look at a supermoon?

Moonrise or moonset during twilight, when the Moon sits near the horizon among foreground objects and the moon illusion does the work. The exact instant of full phase matters very little; the disk changes imperceptibly over hours. The giant moons in photographs are telephoto compression, not the supermoon effect.

Keep exploring: the full moon calendar with every date and name, the anomalistic month behind the distance cycle, how tides actually work, and The Moon live for your location.