Moon tonight / October 2026

Full Moon October 2026: Hunter’s Moon

Q: When is the full moon in October 2026?

The October 2026 full moon is on October 26 at 12:12 AM EDT, which is 9:12 PM PDT on October 25 on the West Coast. The table shows the time in every US zone.

Q: What is the October full moon called?

It is the Hunter’s Moon. By October the game was fattening up for winter, and it was the time for hunting and laying in a store of provisions. The Hunter’s Moon is the name for the October full moon in a year when the Harvest Moon falls in September.

Q: What time does the October full moon rise?

The full moon rises near sunset. The table gives moonrise that evening for New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Anchorage and Honolulu, each on its own clock, with the compass direction it appears in.

Q: Is the October 2026 full moon a supermoon?

Not by this page’s rule. It is about 368,870 km away at the full moon, and a supermoon here means a full moon closer than 360,000 km.

Q: Is the October 2026 full moon a Blue Moon?

No. A Blue Moon is the second full moon in a calendar month or the third of four in one season, and the moon does not turn blue.

Q: Why do full moon times differ by time zone?

The moon is full at one instant for everyone on Earth. Each zone writes that instant on its own clock, so it can land on a different date late in the evening.

The Hunter’s Moon is full on October 26 at 12:12 AM EDT. Here is the time in every US zone and moonrise that evening in six cities.

Photo: “Moon rise over the Green River and sage steppe at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge”, Tom Koerner, USFWS Mountain-Prairie, Public domain

The exact time

When the October full moon happens in each US time zone

The October 2026 full moon in each US time zone
Time zone	Date	Time
Eastern	October 26	12:12 AM EDT
Central	October 25	11:12 PM CDT
Mountain	October 25	10:12 PM MDT
Pacific	October 25	9:12 PM PDT
Alaska	October 25	8:12 PM AKDT
Hawaii	October 25	6:12 PM HST

Instants from the U.S. Naval Observatory’s table of moon phases.

Moonrise

Moonrise that evening in six cities

A full moon rises close to sunset. The compass direction is where to look on the horizon.

Moonrise on the evening of the October 2026 full moon in six cities
City	Evening of	Moonrise	Direction
New York	Oct 25	5:26 PM	east-northeast (ENE)
Chicago	Oct 25	5:19 PM	east-northeast (ENE)
Denver	Oct 25	5:35 PM	east-northeast (ENE)
Los Angeles	Oct 25	5:39 PM	east-northeast (ENE)
Anchorage	Oct 25	5:26 PM	northeast (NE)
Honolulu	Oct 25	5:42 PM	east-northeast (ENE)

The name

Why it is called the Hunter’s Moon

By October the game was fattening up for winter, and it was the time for hunting and laying in a store of provisions. The Hunter’s Moon is the name for the October full moon in a year when the Harvest Moon falls in September.

These names come from Native American, Colonial American and European traditions, and nations named the moons by their own seasons, so no one name belongs to a single people. Names follow the Old Farmer's Almanac.