The 2027 supermoon is the Wolf Moon, full at 7:17 a.m. EST (12:17 UTC) on Friday, January 22, at 357,644 km from Earth. Every common definition counts it; one also adds the February 20 Snow Moon.
A supermoon is a full moon that happens near perigee, the Moon’s closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit. The term has no official astronomical definition, so different sources draw the line in different places.
In 2027, every widely used definition agrees on one supermoon, the January 22 Wolf Moon, but depending on the rule used, 2027 has one, two, or three supermoons, counting new moons.
That makes 2027 a thin year: each of 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031 has three full-moon supermoons under the same distance threshold.
This page gives the exact time of the 2027 supermoon in every US time zone, the 2027 full moons nearest the line, the supermoon dates from 2026 to 2031, and how much bigger and brighter a supermoon looks.
Table of Contents
When is the supermoon 2027?
The 2027 supermoon is full at 12:17 UTC on Friday, January 22, 2027, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. Moonblink gives 12:17:15 UTC and a distance of 357,644 km.
The table below converts the moment to US and international time zones.
| Time zone | 2027 supermoon (exact full moon) |
|---|---|
| UTC | Friday, January 22, 12:17 p.m. |
| US Eastern | Friday, January 22, 7:17 a.m. EST |
| US Central | Friday, January 22, 6:17 a.m. CST |
| US Mountain | Friday, January 22, 5:17 a.m. MST |
| US Pacific | Friday, January 22, 4:17 a.m. PST |
| Alaska | Friday, January 22, 3:17 a.m. AKST |
| Hawaii | Friday, January 22, 2:17 a.m. HST |
| London | Friday, January 22, 12:17 p.m. GMT |
| India | Friday, January 22, 5:47 p.m. IST |
| Sydney | Friday, January 22, 11:17 p.m. AEDT |
The 2027 supermoon falls on Friday, January 22, in every time zone shown. The Moon reaches perigee 14 hours and 26 minutes earlier, at 21:50 UTC on Thursday, January 21 (4:50 p.m. EST), at 357,283 km. The full moon itself is covered on Datescal’s Wolf Moon 2027: Date, Time and the January Supermoon page.
When to see the 2027 supermoon
The exact full moon comes around sunrise on the East Coast and before dawn in the West, so the evenings of Thursday, January 21, and Friday, January 22, are the times to see it rise. The table below gives moonrise and moonset for four US cities, from the Naval Observatory’s rise and set data.
| City | Thursday, January 21: moonrise (lit) | Friday, January 22: moonset | Friday, January 22: moonrise (lit) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York (EST) | 4:02 p.m. (99%) | 7:27 a.m. | 5:25 p.m. (100%) |
| Chicago (CST) | 3:56 p.m. (99%) | 7:26 a.m. | 5:19 p.m. (100%) |
| Denver (MST) | 4:17 p.m. (99%) | 7:31 a.m. | 5:38 p.m. (100%) |
| Los Angeles (PST) | 4:30 p.m. (99%) | 7:11 a.m. | 5:47 p.m. (100%) |
On Friday evening, January 22, the supermoon rises 24 to 34 minutes after sunset in these four cities, low in the eastern sky. On Thursday, January 21, the 99%-lit Moon rises in late afternoon, close to the moment of perigee at 4:50 p.m. EST.
How many supermoons are there in 2027?
The answer depends on the definition. The term comes from astrologer Richard Nolle, who in 1979 defined a supermoon as a new or full moon occurring within 90% of the Moon’s closest approach to Earth, according to Wikipedia, which notes there is no official or consistent definition. Websites apply different rules:
| Definition | Who uses it | 2027 supermoons |
|---|---|---|
| Full moon closer than 361,885 km | Timeandspace.science, based on Fred Espenak’s approach | January 22 only |
| Full moon scoring 0.9 or more on Fred Espenak’s perigee scale | iCalendrier | January 22 and February 20 (February 21 in UTC) |
| Full or new moon closer than 360,000 km | timeanddate.com | January 22 full moon; by Moonblink’s distances, also the July 3 and August 2 new moons |
All three rules include the January 22 Wolf Moon, so it is the one 2027 supermoon everyone agrees on. WhatMoonPhase and Timeandspace.science both list it as the year’s only supermoon, while iCalendrier also counts the Snow Moon.
The 2027 full moons nearest the supermoon line
| 2027 full moon | US Eastern Time | Distance (Moonblink) | Nearest perigee (Moonblink) | Supermoon? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolf Moon | Friday, January 22, 7:17 a.m. EST | 357,644 km | Jan 21, 21:50 UTC, 357,283 km | Yes, under every rule |
| Snow Moon | Saturday, February 20, 6:23 p.m. EST | 363,306 km | Feb 19, 07:32 UTC, 361,015 km | Only on iCalendrier’s Espenak score |
| Cold Moon | Monday, December 13, 11:09 a.m. EST | 368,139 km | Dec 16, 02:22 UTC, 364,027 km | No |
The Snow Moon sits close to the line. It comes 1.6 days after a perigee of 361,015 km and scores 94.81% on iCalendrier’s Espenak-based scale, enough to qualify there, but at 363,306 km it misses both fixed distance cutoffs.
Super new moons in 2027
New moons can also fall near perigee, but they cannot be seen because the Moon’s lit side faces away from Earth. The closest new moon of 2027 is on Monday, August 2, at 357,387 km, about 3.5 hours after a perigee of 357,364 km, according to Moonblink.
That closeness is one reason the total solar eclipse that day is so long, up to 6 minutes and 23 seconds, according to NASA.
The July 3 new moon (July 4 in UTC), at 358,805 km, is also inside timeanddate.com’s 360,000 km line. Both new moons are listed on Datescal’s Moon Phases 2027: New Moon and Quarter Moon Dates and Times page.
How much bigger and brighter is the 2027 supermoon?
A full moon at perigee looks about 14% larger in diameter and about 30% brighter than one at apogee, its farthest point, according to Wikipedia. TheSkyLive gives the January 22, 2027, supermoon an apparent diameter of 33.40 arcminutes, 7.50% larger than the Moon’s average size.
Datescal compared it with 2027’s farthest full moon, the July 18 Buck Moon at 405,973 km:
| Comparison | January 22 supermoon | July 18 micromoon (Buck Moon) |
|---|---|---|
| Distance (Moonblink) | 357,644 km | 405,973 km |
| Apparent diameter | About 13.5% wider | Baseline |
| Brightness | About 29% brighter | Baseline |
The width figure is the ratio of the two distances, and the brightness figure is that ratio squared, since light falls off with the square of distance. The difference is real but hard to judge by eye, because there is nothing next to the Moon in the sky to compare it with.
Supermoon dates for 2026 to 2031
The table below lists the full-moon supermoons from 2026 to 2031 using a single rule: a full moon closer than 361,885 km, with distances from Moonblink’s tables for 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031, and the November 2026 distance from iCalendrier. Other sites using other rules may add or drop one near the line.
| Year | Supermoons (US Eastern Time) | Distances | Closest of the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Tuesday, November 24; Wednesday, December 23 | 360,754 km; 356,740 km | December 23 (December 24 in UTC) |
| 2027 | Friday, January 22 | 357,644 km | January 22 |
| 2028 | Tuesday, January 11; Thursday, February 10; Friday, March 10 | 360,266 km; 356,720 km; 358,074 km | February 10 |
| 2029 | Wednesday, February 28; Thursday, March 29; Saturday, April 28 | 359,659 km; 356,683 km; 358,383 km | March 29 (March 30 in UTC) |
| 2030 | Wednesday, April 17; Friday, May 17; Saturday, June 15 | 359,654 km; 357,028 km; 358,779 km | May 17 |
| 2031 | Thursday, June 5; Friday, July 4; Saturday, August 2 | 359,674 km; 357,018 km; 358,651 km | July 4, Independence Day |
Under this rule, after the January 22, 2027, supermoon, the next is on Tuesday, January 11, 2028, at 11:03 p.m. EST (04:03 UTC on January 12). Across this span, the closest full moon of the year arrives about five to six weeks later each year on average, which is why the supermoon season drifts from November and December in 2026 to June, July, and August by 2031.
What is a supermoon?
A supermoon is a popular name, not an astronomical term, for a full moon that falls near perigee. The Moon’s orbit is an ellipse, so its distance from Earth varies through each month, from roughly 356,000 km at the closest perigees to roughly 406,000 km at the farthest apogees.
When a full moon coincides with a close perigee, the Moon looks slightly larger and brighter than usual. Wikipedia notes that perigean full and new moons also bring slightly stronger tides, known as perigean spring tides or king tides.
How to see the 2027 supermoon
The supermoon is visible to the naked eye wherever the sky is clear. These steps give the best view in the United States:
- Look east after sunset on Friday, January 22, 2027; in the four cities above, the full Moon rises between 5:19 and 5:47 p.m. local standard time.
- Watch it rise behind buildings, trees, or hills, where the Moon illusion makes it look larger than when it is high overhead.
- On Thursday, January 21, look east in late afternoon, when the 99%-lit Moon rises before sunset, close to the moment of perigee.
- To see the size difference for yourself, photograph the January 22 Moon and the July 18 Buck Moon with the same lens and zoom, and compare the two images.
What the supermoon is not
Several terms are confused with the supermoon. The table below sets out the differences.
| Term | What it means | Relation to the 2027 supermoon |
|---|---|---|
| Supermoon | A full moon near perigee | January 22, 2027 |
| Perigee | The Moon’s closest point to Earth in each orbit | January 21, 2027, at 21:50 UTC, 14 hours before the full moon |
| Micromoon | A full moon near apogee, the farthest point | The July 18, 2027, Buck Moon, the farthest full moon of the year |
| Blue Moon | An extra full moon in a season or month | The May 20, 2027, Flower Moon, not a supermoon |
| Blood Moon | A Moon turned red in a total lunar eclipse | No total lunar eclipse in 2027 |
| Super new moon | A new moon near perigee | August 2, 2027, invisible, but it lengthens that day’s solar eclipse |
Frequently asked questions
When is the supermoon in 2027?
The 2027 supermoon is the Wolf Moon on Friday, January 22, at 7:17 a.m. EST (12:17 UTC), according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. It is 357,644 km from Earth, the closest full moon of 2027. The best time to see it is moonrise on the evening of January 22.
How many supermoons are there in 2027?
It depends on the definition. Using a cutoff of 361,885 km, as Timeandspace.science does, 2027 has one full-moon supermoon, on January 22. iCalendrier, using Fred Espenak’s perigee score, also counts the February 20 Snow Moon. Every common definition includes January 22.
Is the February 2027 Snow Moon a supermoon?
Only under some definitions. The Snow Moon of February 20, 2027, is 363,306 km from Earth, outside the 361,885 km cutoff used by Timeandspace.science and the 360,000 km cutoff used by timeanddate.com. iCalendrier counts it as a supermoon under Fred Espenak’s perigee score.
When is the next supermoon after January 2027?
Using the 361,885 km cutoff, the next full-moon supermoon is on Tuesday, January 11, 2028, at 11:03 p.m. EST, which is 04:03 UTC on January 12, at 360,266 km from Earth, according to Moonblink. It is followed by supermoons on February 10 and March 10, 2028, in US time zones.
How much bigger is the 2027 supermoon?
TheSkyLive says the January 22, 2027, supermoon appears 7.50% larger than the Moon’s average size. Compared with the farthest full moon of 2027, the July 18 Buck Moon, it is about 13.5% wider and about 29% brighter, based on Moonblink’s distances.
Is there a super new moon in 2027?
Yes, under timeanddate.com’s 360,000 km rule. The August 2, 2027, new moon is 357,387 km from Earth, the closest new moon of the year, and the July 3 new moon is 358,805 km away, according to Moonblink. New moons cannot be seen, but the August 2 new moon brings a total solar eclipse.
Sources:
- USNO moon phases 2027
- Moonblink 2027 table
- Moonblink 2027 calendar
- Moonblink 2028 table
- Moonblink 2029 table
- Moonblink 2030 table
- Moonblink 2031 table
- Moonblink 2026 table
- iCalendrier: Superlune
- Timeandspace.science: Full moon calendar
- timeanddate.com: Supermoon
- WhatMoonPhase: Full moon 2027
- TheSkyLive: Full Moon of January 2027
- Wikipedia: Supermoon
- NASA eclipse list 2027
