Beaver Moon

November's full moon, the Beaver Moon, reaches peak illumination on Saturday, November 13, 2027, at 10:26 p.m. EST (03:26 UTC). To the naked eye, the Moon looks full for about a day on either side of the peak. That makes the evenings of November 12 and November 13 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. At full phase the Moon is about 378,754 km from Earth (center to center), not close enough to perigee (369,353 km) to qualify under the common definitions.

Best viewing tips

Watch the moonrise. In New York City, the Moon rises at about 3:26 p.m. on November 12 (sunset 4:40 p.m.) and at about 4:00 p.m. on November 13 (sunset 4:39 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 high in the sky for mid-northern US latitudes. Moonrise comes early in the evening in November, so it is easy to fit into a commute or a dinner break. Dress warmly.

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 Beaver Moon is usually linked to beavers finishing their lodges and storing food for winter. It is also tied to the fur-trapping season, when traps were set before swamps froze. Frost Moon reflects the first hard freezes in much of North America.

Other names recorded for this month's full moon include Frost Moon, Mourning 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

The main meteor shower this month is the Leonids (around November 17). Check the Moon's phase on the peak night, because bright moonlight hides fainter meteors. Use the November 2027 moon calendar to see every phase, and the daily moon phase pages for illumination on any date.