Our Solar System

Full Moons in 2027

Twelve full Moons, each with its traditional name, its time to the minute and how close it comes. Two are supermoons, and 20 May is a blue moon.

Every full Moon of 2027 at its moment, drawn at its own size in the sky: the nearer the Moon, the bigger it looks.
  1. 22Jan Wolf Moon Friday 22 January 2027, 12:17 UTC 357,644 km from Earth, 99.3% of the way from apogee to perigee Supermoon
  2. 20Feb Snow Moon Saturday 20 February 2027, 23:24 UTC 363,306 km from Earth, 94.8% of the way from apogee to perigee Supermoon
  3. 22Mar Worm Moon Monday 22 March 2027, 10:44 UTC 372,525 km from Earth, 83.9% of the way from apogee to perigee
  4. 20Apr Pink Moon Tuesday 20 April 2027, 22:27 UTC 383,426 km from Earth
  5. 20May Flower Moon Thursday 20 May 2027, 10:59 UTC 393,901 km from Earth Seasonal blue moon
  6. 19Jun Strawberry Moon Saturday 19 June 2027, 00:44 UTC 401,951 km from Earth, near apogee
  7. 18Jul Buck Moon Sunday 18 July 2027, 15:45 UTC 405,973 km from Earth, near apogee
  8. 17Aug Sturgeon Moon Tuesday 17 August 2027, 07:29 UTC 405,078 km from Earth, near apogee
  9. 15Sep Harvest Moon Wednesday 15 September 2027, 23:04 UTC 399,356 km from Earth, near apogee
  10. 15Oct Hunter's Moon Friday 15 October 2027, 13:47 UTC 389,937 km from Earth
  11. 14Nov Beaver Moon Sunday 14 November 2027, 03:26 UTC 378,761 km from Earth
  12. 13Dec Cold Moon Monday 13 December 2027, 16:09 UTC 368,139 km from Earth, 89.9% of the way from apogee to perigee

Times in UTC to the nearest minute. Ours agree with the US Naval Observatory's to within a minute and a half from 2026 to 2028. Distances are centre to centre. With JavaScript on, each time is also given in your own zone.

Supermoons in 2027

Two full Moons pass Fred Espenak's test: 22 January and 20 February.

  1. 22 January 2027, the Wolf Moon: 357,644 km from Earth, 99.3% of the way from apogee to perigee, a supermoon
  2. 20 February 2027, the Snow Moon: 363,306 km from Earth, 94.8% of the way from apogee to perigee, a supermoon
  3. 22 March 2027, the Worm Moon: 372,525 km from Earth, 83.9% of the way from apogee to perigee
  4. 20 April 2027, the Pink Moon: 383,426 km from Earth, 60.7% of the way from apogee to perigee
  5. 20 May 2027, the Flower Moon: 393,901 km from Earth, 28.6% of the way from apogee to perigee
  6. 19 June 2027, the Strawberry Moon: 401,951 km from Earth, 8.5% of the way from apogee to perigee
  7. 18 July 2027, the Buck Moon: 405,973 km from Earth, 0.5% of the way from apogee to perigee
  8. 17 August 2027, the Sturgeon Moon: 405,078 km from Earth, 2.1% of the way from apogee to perigee
  9. 15 September 2027, the Harvest Moon: 399,356 km from Earth, 14.4% of the way from apogee to perigee
  10. 15 October 2027, the Hunter's Moon: 389,937 km from Earth, 40.7% of the way from apogee to perigee
  11. 14 November 2027, the Beaver Moon: 378,761 km from Earth, 73.0% of the way from apogee to perigee
  12. 13 December 2027, the Cold Moon: 368,139 km from Earth, 89.9% of the way from apogee to perigee
How close each full Moon of 2027 comes to the Earth, as a share of the way from the far point of its orbit (apogee, 0%) to the near point (perigee, 100%). A full Moon at 90% or more is a supermoon.
How a supermoon is decided

"Supermoon" is not an official astronomical term. NASA says it is typically used for a full Moon that comes within at least 90 percent of perigee, the nearest point of the Moon's orbit, and that at its closest the full Moon can look up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the faintest Moon of the year, when it is farthest from Earth. The 90% comes from Richard Nolle, the astrologer who coined the word. Fred Espenak's tables measure each full Moon against the apogee and perigee either side of it, and so do we. Our list agrees with his for every full Moon from 2026 to 2028.

Where the names come from

The names are the Old Farmer's Almanac's: Wolf, Snow, Worm, Pink, Flower, Strawberry, Buck, Sturgeon, Harvest or Corn, Hunter's, Beaver and Cold, from January to December. The Almanac says they come from Native American, Colonial American and other traditional North American sources, and NASA notes that the Maine Farmers' Almanac began publishing Native American names for the full Moons in the 1930s. Different cultures give the full Moons names of their own, so these are one tradition among many.

The Harvest Moon is the full Moon closest to the September equinox. In 2027 that is the full Moon of 15 September 2027, in September. The Hunter's Moon is the full Moon after it, 15 October 2027.

Months here are UTC months. A full Moon near midnight at the start or end of a month can fall in the next or previous month on your clock.

Blue moons

NASA gives two definitions. A monthly blue moon is the second full Moon in a calendar month with two. A seasonal blue moon is the third full Moon of an astronomical season that has four, a season running from a solstice to an equinox or the other way. Either way, NASA notes, a blue moon usually looks pale grey, white or yellowish, like any other full Moon.

In 2027, the full Moon of 20 May 2027 is a seasonal blue moon, the third of four between the March equinox and the June solstice.

Questions

How many full Moons are there in 2027?

Twelve. The first is on 22 January 2027 and the last on 13 December 2027.

Which full Moons in 2027 are supermoons?

22 January (the Wolf Moon, 357,644 km) and 20 February (the Snow Moon, 363,306 km). Each is 90% or more of the way from apogee to perigee, Fred Espenak's test.

Is there a blue moon in 2027?

Yes: 20 May 2027, the third of four full Moons in its season.

When is the Harvest Moon in 2027?

Wednesday 15 September 2027 at 23:04 UTC, the full Moon closest to the September equinox.

Where do the full Moon names come from?

The names we use are the Old Farmer's Almanac's, which it says come from Native American, Colonial American and other traditional North American sources. NASA notes that the Maine Farmers' Almanac began publishing Native American names for the full Moons in the 1930s. Other cultures have names of their own.

More

Sources

  1. The Old Farmer's Almanac: Full Moon names
  2. The Old Farmer's Almanac: the Hunter's Moon, the full Moon after the Harvest Moon
  3. NASA: Wolf Moon in Washington, on the Maine Farmers' Almanac names
  4. NASA Science: Supermoons
  5. Fred Espenak, AstroPixels: Full Moon at Perigee (full supermoons), 2001 to 2100, and the test for one
  6. EarthSky (Bruce McClure, 2018): why experts disagree on what makes a supermoon, with Richard Nolle's original definition
  7. NASA Watch the Skies: the monthly and seasonal blue moon
  8. US Naval Observatory: Phases of the Moon. Our times are checked against USNO's for every phase from 2026 to 2028 and agree to within a minute and a half
  9. NASA Eclipse Web Site (Espenak): eclipse dates
  10. Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms (2nd edition, 1998): chapter 47, the lunar theory behind the Moon's place, phase and distance; chapter 48, the lit fraction and the bright limb; chapter 25, the Sun's aberration
  11. IAU Office of Astronomy for Education: the lunar phases seen from the Southern Hemisphere
  12. NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, CGI Moon Kit (Ernie Wright, Noah Petro, 2019): the Moon's colour from the LROC Wide Angle Camera's Hapke-normalised mosaic, the face every Moon on these pages is drawn from
  13. LRO Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, LDEM_64 heights (NASA PDS Geosciences Node): the slopes that shade the ground near the terminator
  14. Archinal et al. (2011), Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements: 2009, Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy 109, 101: the Moon's pole and turning, so the drawn face shows the libration of the moment
  15. NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, Moon Phase and Libration, 2026: what libration and the position angle of the axis are, and the frames we compared our drawing with
  16. NASA JPL Horizons: the Moon's sub-Earth point and pole angle, which our drawing matches to within 0.01 degrees on the dates we test
  17. Krisciunas and Schaefer (1991), A model of the brightness of moonlight, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 103, 1033: the Moon's brightness through its phases, which sets the earthshine against the sunlit side
  18. NASA Earth fact sheet: the Earth's radius and geometric albedo, for the earthshine
  19. The phases, distances and dates on this page are worked out by our own code from the sources above, the same lunar theory that places the Moon in the 3D viewer. The Moons are drawn by our own renderer from NASA's maps.