Harvest Moon

September's full moon, the Harvest Moon, reaches peak illumination on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 12:49 p.m. EDT (16:49 UTC). To the naked eye, the Moon looks full for about a day on either side of the peak. That makes the evenings of September 25 and September 26 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 379,423 km from Earth (center to center), not close enough to perigee (369,324 km) to qualify under the common definitions.

Best viewing tips

Watch the moonrise. In New York City, the Moon rises at about 6:12 p.m. on September 25 (sunset 6:47 p.m.) and at about 6:34 p.m. on September 26 (sunset 6:46 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. Around the equinox, the full moon rises close to due east, and on consecutive evenings it rises at similar times. That gives several good moonrise nights in a row.

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 Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the September equinox, which in 2026 falls on September 22 (8:05 p.m. EDT). Corn Moon reflects the corn harvest in late summer and early fall. When the September full moon is the one closest to the September equinox, it is also called the Harvest Moon. Around this time of year, the Moon rises only a little later each evening than the night before, which gave farmers extra light after sunset at harvest time.

Other names recorded for this month's full moon include Corn Moon, Barley 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 September equinox falls on September 22 at 8:05 p.m. EDT. Use the September 2026 moon calendar to see every phase, and the daily moon phase pages for illumination on any date.