Sturgeon Moon

August's full moon, the Sturgeon Moon, reaches peak illumination on Tuesday, August 17, 2027, at 3:29 a.m. EDT (07:29 UTC). To the naked eye, the Moon looks full for about a day on either side of the peak. That makes the evenings of August 16 and August 17 the best nights to watch it rise.

Quick facts

Peak time by US time zone

The Moon is exactly full at one instant worldwide. Only the clock reading changes.

Times are calculated with the open-source astronomy-engine library. Other published sources may differ by about a minute because of rounding.

Is it a supermoon?

No. It is the opposite: at about 405,069 km, the Moon is near apogee (its farthest point, 406,073 km), so this full moon is sometimes called a micromoon. It looks a few percent smaller than average, but the difference is hard to see without a side-by-side photo.

Best viewing tips

Watch the moonrise. In New York City, the Moon rises at about 7:35 p.m. on August 16 (sunset 7:52 p.m.) and at about 7:57 p.m. on August 17 (sunset 7:51 p.m.). Times for your city will differ, so check the Moonlix moonrise page for your location.

Find a clear eastern horizon. Near the horizon, the full moon often looks orange and unusually large. The color comes from Earth's atmosphere filtering out blue light. The size is the well-known Moon illusion, a trick of perception rather than a real change.

Where it sits in the sky. At its highest, this full moon is at a medium height in the sky for mid-northern US latitudes. Late-summer haze and humidity can soften the Moon's edge near the horizon. The view usually improves as the Moon climbs higher later in the evening.

Binoculars and cameras. Ordinary 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars show the dark lunar seas and the bright rays around the crater Tycho. For photos, use a tripod and a telephoto lens, shoot during blue hour just after sunset, and expose for the Moon. A good starting point is ISO 100, f/8 and 1/250 s.

Name origin and folklore

The Sturgeon Moon name refers to the large lake sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, which were traditionally easiest to catch in late summer. Green Corn Moon and Grain Moon point to the late-summer harvest.

Other names recorded for this month's full moon include Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon. Most full moon names popular in the US today were spread by the Old Farmer's Almanac and the Farmers' Almanac. Native nations had their own names, which varied by region and language, so no single list is "official."

What else is in the sky

This full moon brings a penumbral lunar eclipse, with greatest eclipse at 3:13 a.m. EDT (07:13 UTC). Whether you can see it depends on whether the Moon is above your horizon at that time, so check your local moonrise and moonset first. A penumbral eclipse only dims the Moon slightly and is easy to miss. The main meteor shower this month is the Perseids (around August 12–13). Check the Moon's phase on the peak night, because bright moonlight hides fainter meteors. Use the August 2027 moon calendar to see every phase, and the daily moon phase pages for illumination on any date.