Our Solar System

Full Moons in 2028

Thirteen full Moons, each with its traditional name, its time to the minute and how close it comes. Four are supermoons, and 31 December is a blue moon.

Every full Moon of 2028 at its moment, drawn at its own size in the sky: the nearer the Moon, the bigger it looks.
  1. 12Jan Wolf Moon Wednesday 12 January 2028, 04:03 UTC 360,266 km from Earth, 97.4% of the way from apogee to perigee SupermoonPartial lunar eclipse
  2. 10Feb Snow Moon Thursday 10 February 2028, 15:04 UTC 356,720 km from Earth, 99.9% of the way from apogee to perigee Supermoon
  3. 11Mar Worm Moon Saturday 11 March 2028, 01:06 UTC 358,074 km from Earth, 99.0% of the way from apogee to perigee Supermoon
  4. 9Apr Pink Moon Sunday 9 April 2028, 10:27 UTC 363,867 km from Earth, 94.3% of the way from apogee to perigee Supermoon
  5. 8May Flower Moon Monday 8 May 2028, 19:49 UTC 372,910 km from Earth, 83.1% of the way from apogee to perigee
  6. 7Jun Strawberry Moon Wednesday 7 June 2028, 06:09 UTC 383,572 km from Earth
  7. 6Jul Buck Moon Thursday 6 July 2028, 18:11 UTC 393,955 km from Earth Partial lunar eclipse
  8. 5Aug Sturgeon Moon Saturday 5 August 2028, 08:10 UTC 402,067 km from Earth, near apogee
  9. 3Sep Corn Moon Sunday 3 September 2028, 23:48 UTC 406,158 km from Earth, near apogee
  10. 3Oct Harvest Moon Tuesday 3 October 2028, 16:25 UTC 405,161 km from Earth, near apogee
  11. 2Nov Hunter's Moon Thursday 2 November 2028, 09:17 UTC 399,079 km from Earth, near apogee
  12. 2Dec Cold Moon Saturday 2 December 2028, 01:40 UTC 389,146 km from Earth
  13. 31Dec Blue Moon Sunday 31 December 2028, 16:48 UTC 377,601 km from Earth, 75.5% of the way from apogee to perigee Blue Moon (second in the month)Total lunar eclipse

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 2028

Four full Moons pass Fred Espenak's test: 12 January, 10 February, 11 March and 9 April.

  1. 12 January 2028, the Wolf Moon: 360,266 km from Earth, 97.4% of the way from apogee to perigee, a supermoon
  2. 10 February 2028, the Snow Moon: 356,720 km from Earth, 99.9% of the way from apogee to perigee, a supermoon
  3. 11 March 2028, the Worm Moon: 358,074 km from Earth, 99.0% of the way from apogee to perigee, a supermoon
  4. 9 April 2028, the Pink Moon: 363,867 km from Earth, 94.3% of the way from apogee to perigee, a supermoon
  5. 8 May 2028, the Flower Moon: 372,910 km from Earth, 83.1% of the way from apogee to perigee
  6. 7 June 2028, the Strawberry Moon: 383,572 km from Earth, 59.9% of the way from apogee to perigee
  7. 6 July 2028, the Buck Moon: 393,955 km from Earth, 28.6% of the way from apogee to perigee
  8. 5 August 2028, the Sturgeon Moon: 402,067 km from Earth, 8.6% of the way from apogee to perigee
  9. 3 September 2028, the Corn Moon: 406,158 km from Earth, 0.5% of the way from apogee to perigee
  10. 3 October 2028, the Harvest Moon: 405,161 km from Earth, 2.3% of the way from apogee to perigee
  11. 2 November 2028, the Hunter's Moon: 399,079 km from Earth, 15.4% of the way from apogee to perigee
  12. 2 December 2028, the Cold Moon: 389,146 km from Earth, 43.7% of the way from apogee to perigee
  13. 31 December 2028, the Blue Moon: 377,601 km from Earth, 75.5% of the way from apogee to perigee
How close each full Moon of 2028 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 2028 that is the full Moon of 3 October 2028, in October, so September's full Moon is the Corn Moon, as the Almanac says it usually is in such a year. The Hunter's Moon is the full Moon after it, 2 November 2028. That puts it in November this year, where the Almanac's list has the Beaver Moon.

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 2028, the full Moon of 31 December 2028 is a monthly blue moon, the second in December, though from UTC+8 eastwards it is already 1 January 2029.

Eclipses at full Moon

A lunar eclipse can only happen at full Moon, when the Earth's shadow can fall on it. The Wolf Moon of 12 January 2028 brings a partial lunar eclipse. The Buck Moon of 6 July 2028 brings a partial lunar eclipse. The Blue Moon of 31 December 2028 brings a total lunar eclipse. Each eclipse page has the times, where to see it and a reminder by email.

Questions

How many full Moons are there in 2028?

Thirteen. One month has two. The first is on 12 January 2028 and the last on 31 December 2028.

Which full Moons in 2028 are supermoons?

12 January (the Wolf Moon, 360,266 km), 10 February (the Snow Moon, 356,720 km), 11 March (the Worm Moon, 358,074 km) and 9 April (the Pink Moon, 363,867 km). Each is 90% or more of the way from apogee to perigee, Fred Espenak's test.

Is there a blue moon in 2028?

Yes: 31 December 2028, the second full Moon of December.

When is the Harvest Moon in 2028?

Tuesday 3 October 2028 at 16:25 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.