The Hunter’s Moon 2027 reaches full at 9:47 a.m. EDT (13:47 UTC) on Friday, October 15. It is the full moon after the September 15 Harvest Moon, and Sukkot begins at sundown the same day.
The Hunter’s Moon is the full moon that follows the Harvest Moon. In 2027, the Harvest Moon falls on September 15, so the Hunter’s Moon is the full moon on Friday, October 15, in every US time zone.
It becomes full in the morning across the United States, so the evenings of Thursday, October 14, and Friday, October 15, are the times to see it, and on both evenings it rises before sunset.
Like the Harvest Moon, it rises only a short time later each evening: 25 to 36 minutes later from October 14 to 17 in New York. The Jewish festival of Sukkot begins at sundown on October 15, the evening of the full moon.
This page gives the exact time in every US time zone, moonrise times for four US cities, the Hunter’s Moon dates from 2026 to 2031, including the year it moves to November, and where the name comes from.
Table of Contents
When is the Hunter’s Moon 2027?
The Hunter’s Moon 2027 is full at 13:47 UTC on Friday, October 15, 2027, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. Moonblink gives 13:46:57 UTC, which rounds to the same minute. The table below converts it to US and international time zones.
| Time zone | Hunter’s Moon 2027 (exact full moon) |
|---|---|
| UTC | Friday, October 15, 1:47 p.m. |
| US Eastern | Friday, October 15, 9:47 a.m. EDT |
| US Central | Friday, October 15, 8:47 a.m. CDT |
| US Mountain | Friday, October 15, 7:47 a.m. MDT |
| US Pacific | Friday, October 15, 6:47 a.m. PDT |
| Alaska | Friday, October 15, 5:47 a.m. AKDT |
| Hawaii | Friday, October 15, 3:47 a.m. HST |
| London | Friday, October 15, 2:47 p.m. BST |
| India | Friday, October 15, 7:17 p.m. IST |
| Sydney | Saturday, October 16, 12:47 a.m. AEDT |
The 2027 Hunter’s Moon falls on Friday, October 15, almost everywhere, but on Saturday, October 16, in Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand, where daylight saving time has begun.
Brisbane, which does not use daylight saving time, keeps October 15 at 11:47 p.m. AEST. The full moon before it is the Harvest Moon of Wednesday, September 15, and the next is the Beaver Moon of Saturday, November 13, in US time zones.
Hunter’s Moon moonrise times in US cities
The exact full moon comes in the morning across the United States. In New York, Chicago, and Denver, the Moon has already set by then; in Los Angeles it is still just above the western horizon at 6:47 a.m. PDT, 11 minutes before sunrise, and sets at 7:08 a.m.
The table below gives moonrise, moonset, and sunset for four US cities, from the Naval Observatory’s rise and set data.
| City | Thursday, October 14: moonrise (lit) | Friday, October 15: moonset | Friday, October 15: moonrise (lit) | Friday, October 15: sunset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York (EDT) | 5:33 p.m. (99%) | 7:13 a.m. | 5:58 p.m. (100%) | 6:16 p.m. |
| Chicago (CDT) | 5:27 p.m. (99%) | 7:12 a.m. | 5:51 p.m. (100%) | 6:09 p.m. |
| Denver (MDT) | 5:40 p.m. (99%) | 7:21 a.m. | 6:06 p.m. (100%) | 6:21 p.m. |
| Los Angeles (PDT) | 5:40 p.m. (99%) | 7:08 a.m. | 6:10 p.m. (100%) | 6:19 p.m. |
On Friday, October 15, the full Moon rises 9 to 18 minutes before sunset in all four cities. On Thursday, October 14, it rises 40 to 45 minutes before sunset, so it is already well up in the east as the Sun goes down.
The Hunter’s Moon moonrise pattern
The Moon usually rises about 50 minutes later each night. Around the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons, the delay shrinks, because the Moon’s evening path meets the horizon at a shallow angle for northern observers.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac says the bright Hunter’s Moon rising soon after sunset gave hunters extra evening light to track game. The Naval Observatory’s times for New York show the 2027 pattern:
| Evening in New York | Moonrise (EDT) | Later than the night before | Sunset (EDT) | Share of disc lit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, October 14 | 5:33 p.m. | 6:18 p.m. | 99% | |
| Friday, October 15 | 5:58 p.m. | 25 minutes | 6:16 p.m. | 100% |
| Saturday, October 16 | 6:28 p.m. | 30 minutes | 6:14 p.m. | 99% |
| Sunday, October 17 | 7:04 p.m. | 36 minutes | 6:13 p.m. | 95% |
The gaps are slightly longer than around the 2027 Harvest Moon, when moonrise in New York came 21 to 26 minutes later each evening.
Both are far shorter than the 70 to 72 minutes measured around the 2027 spring full moons. For four evenings in a row, October 14 to 17, the Moon in New York rises within an hour of sunset.
Sukkot, Sharad Purnima and the 2027 Hunter’s Moon
Two autumn festivals tied to the full moon fall at the same time as the Hunter’s Moon in 2027.
Sukkot: The Hebrew calendar is lunar, and Sukkot begins on the 15th of Tishrei, near the full moon. In 2027, it begins at sundown on Friday, October 15, according to Hebcal and Wikipedia. In Jerusalem, the full moon comes at 4:47 p.m. IDT that afternoon, shortly before the festival begins.
Sharad Purnima: The Hindu festival of Sharad Purnima, also called Kojagari Purnima, is held on the full moon of the month of Ashwin. Sources disagree on the 2027 date. Dekho Panchang gives Thursday, October 14, because it applies the rule that the full moon day must be in effect at midnight, while Ved Panchang gives Friday, October 15. The exact full moon comes at 7:17 p.m. IST on October 15.
Hunter’s Moon dates for 2026 to 2031
The Hunter’s Moon is the full moon after the Harvest Moon, so it usually falls in October but moves to November in years when the Harvest Moon falls in October.
| Year | Harvest Moon (UTC date) | Hunter’s Moon (Eastern Time) | Pacific Time | UTC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sep 26 | Monday, October 26, 12:12 a.m. EDT | Sunday, October 25, 9:12 p.m. PDT | Oct 26, 04:12 |
| 2027 | Sep 15 | Friday, October 15, 9:47 a.m. EDT | Friday, October 15, 6:47 a.m. PDT | Oct 15, 13:47 |
| 2028 | Oct 3 | Thursday, November 2, 5:17 a.m. EDT | Thursday, November 2, 2:17 a.m. PDT | Nov 2, 09:17 |
| 2029 | Sep 22 | Monday, October 22, 5:27 a.m. EDT | Monday, October 22, 2:27 a.m. PDT | Oct 22, 09:27 |
| 2030 | Sep 11 | Friday, October 11, 6:47 a.m. EDT | Friday, October 11, 3:47 a.m. PDT | Oct 11, 10:47 |
| 2031 | Sep 30 | Thursday, October 30, 3:32 a.m. EDT | Thursday, October 30, 12:32 a.m. PDT | Oct 30, 07:32 |
In 2028, the Hunter’s Moon falls in November, on Thursday, November 2, because the October 3, 2028, full moon is the Harvest Moon that year. The 2026 Hunter’s Moon split the United States, falling on October 26 in Eastern Time but October 25 in Pacific Time.
What is the Hunter’s Moon?
The Hunter’s Moon is the full moon after the Harvest Moon. Like every full moon, it is the instant the Moon stands opposite the Sun, so its whole Earth-facing side is lit.
It is not bigger or brighter than other full moons; like the Harvest Moon, what marks it out is that it rises soon after sunset for several evenings in a row.
Where the Hunter’s Moon name comes from
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, after the Harvest Moon the fields are cleared, and leaves have fallen, so animals are easier to spot, and the bright moonlight lets hunters track game later into the evening and lay in food before winter.
The Farmers’ Almanac gives a similar explanation: by late October the harvest is in, and game animals have fattened on the leftovers in the bare fields. It adds that Old English and Anglo-Saxon tradition tied the same moon to the opening of the hunting season.
How the Hunter’s Moon name works
The Farmers’ Almanac defines the Hunter’s Moon as the next full moon after the Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the September equinox, which “usually puts it in October but occasionally in early November.”
The Old Farmer’s Almanac gives the same definition. Because it depends on the Harvest Moon, the Hunter’s Moon can never fall in September.
Other names for the October full moon
The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists these October full moon names, with the peoples it attributes them to:
| Name | Attributed to |
|---|---|
| Drying Rice Moon | Dakota |
| Falling Leaves Moon | Anishinaabe |
| Freezing Moon, Ice Moon | Ojibwe, Haida |
| Migrating Moon | Cree |
The Farmers’ Almanac adds the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, and the Sanguine Moon.
The 2027 Hunter’s Moon’s distance and zodiac sign
The 2027 Hunter’s Moon is 389,937 km from Earth at full, according to Moonblink, the seventh-closest of the 12 full moons of 2027.
It is not a supermoon, but the full moons get steadily closer from here to December. At the Hunter’s Moon, the Sun is in Libra, so the Moon stands opposite it in Aries. In astrology, this is the full moon in Aries.
How to see the Hunter’s Moon
The Hunter’s Moon is visible to the naked eye wherever the sky is clear. These steps give the best view in the United States:
- Look on Friday, October 15, 2027, when the full Moon rises between 5:51 and 6:10 p.m. local daylight time in the four cities above, shortly before sunset.
- Find a spot with a clear view of the eastern horizon.
- Watch through twilight while the Moon is low, from moonrise until about 30 minutes after sunset.
- For an earlier view, look on Thursday, October 14, when the 99%-lit Moon is already up in the east about 40 minutes before sunset.
What the Hunter’s Moon is not
Several terms are linked to the October full moon. The table below sets out the differences.
| Term | What it means | Relation to the 2027 Hunter’s Moon |
|---|---|---|
| Hunter’s Moon | The full moon after the Harvest Moon | Friday, October 15, 2027 |
| Harvest Moon | The full moon nearest the September equinox | Wednesday, September 15, 2027 |
| Blood Moon | A Moon turned red during a total lunar eclipse | No; there is no total lunar eclipse in 2027 |
| Supermoon | A full moon near the Moon’s closest point to Earth | No; 2027’s only supermoon is January 22 |
| Beaver Moon | Traditional name for November’s full moon | The next full moon, November 13, 2027, in US time zones |
Frequently asked questions
When is the Hunter’s Moon in 2027?
The Hunter’s Moon in 2027 is on Friday, October 15, at 9:47 a.m. EDT (13:47 UTC), according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. In Pacific Time, it falls at 6:47 a.m. PDT. The best evenings to see it are Thursday, October 14, and Friday, October 15, when the Moon rises before sunset.
Why is the October 15 full moon the Hunter’s Moon in 2027?
The Hunter’s Moon is the full moon after the Harvest Moon. In 2027, the Harvest Moon is the September 15 full moon, the one nearest the September 23 equinox, so the next full moon, on October 15, is the Hunter’s Moon.
Why is it called the Hunter’s Moon?
The Old Farmer’s Almanac says that after the harvest, the fields are bare and animals are easier to spot, and the bright Moon rising soon after sunset gave hunters extra light. The Farmers’ Almanac adds that Old English tradition tied this moon to the start of the hunting season.
Is the Hunter’s Moon always in October?
No. Because it follows the Harvest Moon, it moves to November in years when the Harvest Moon falls in October. In 2028, the Harvest Moon is on October 3, so the Hunter’s Moon is on Thursday, November 2, 2028, at 5:17 a.m. EDT.
When is the Hunter’s Moon in 2028?
The 2028 Hunter’s Moon is on Thursday, November 2, 2028, at 5:17 a.m. EDT (09:17 UTC), according to the U.S. Naval Observatory full moon tables. The 2029 Hunter’s Moon falls on Monday, October 22, and the 2030 Hunter’s Moon on Friday, October 11.
What sign is the Hunter’s Moon in 2027?
The 2027 Hunter’s Moon is in Aries. At full moon, the Moon sits opposite the Sun, and on October 15, 2027, the Sun is in Libra. In astrology, this is called the full moon in Aries. The next full moon, the Beaver Moon of November 13 in US time zones, is in Taurus.
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