Overview
It's happening again. If you're fond of staring at the heavens with your own two eyes to see a stunning sight, you'll want to spend Thursday, October 17, 2024 looking up. Another supermoon is upon us, with the best time to see it arriving after sunset Down Under — so if you train your peepers upwards this evening, you'll be in for a glowing show.
While super full moons aren't particularly rare — several usually happen each year, and one occurred in August 2024 as well as in September — there's still a a good reason to peer upwards this time around. If you're wondering why, we've run through the details below.
Andrew C via Wikimedia Commons
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What Is It?
If you're more familiar with The Mighty Boosh's take on the moon than actual lunar terms, here's what you need to know. As we all learned back in November 2016, a supermoon is a new moon or full moon that occurs when the moon reaches the closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, making it particularly bright. They're not all that uncommon — and because October 2024's supermoon is a full moon (and not a new moon), it's called a super full moon.
It's also a hunter's moon, too, which refers to the time of year in the northern hemisphere. This is the time when hunting was undertaken to store meat for the coming winter in the other half of the world. Of course, that doesn't apply in the southern hemisphere, but the name still sticks.
This supermoon is also the closest of 2024 — which makes it the brightest of 2024, too.
NASA/Joel Kowsky
When Can I See It?
As mentioned above, your best time to look at the harvest supermoon is from sunset on Thursday, October 17, 2024, although it'll officially be a full moon at 10.26pm AEDT in Sydney and Melbourne, 9.26pm AEST in Brisbane, 9.56pm ACDT in Adelaide and 7.26pm AWST in Perth. The moon always appears full for a few days, however, so if you already thought that the night sky looked a little brighter this week, that's why.
To catch a glimpse, you'll want to peek outside when it gets dark to feast your eyes on a luminous lunar sight. Head over to timeanddate.com for the relevant moonrise and moonset times for your area.
Where Can I See It?
You can take a gander from your backyard or balcony, but the standard advice regarding looking into the night sky always applies — so city-dwellers will want to get as far away from light pollution as possible to get the absolute best view.
Sunset arrives at 7.10pm AEDT in Sydney, 7.39pm AEDT in Melbourne, 5.56pm AEST in Brisbane, 7.31pm ACDT in Adelaide and 6.29pm AWST in Perth
Via timeanddate.com. Image: Elekes Andor via Wikimedia Commons.
