What Is a Supermoon? 2026's Three Supermoons Explained
"Supermoon" gets thrown around a lot, and not always accurately. Here's what actually makes a full moon a supermoon, how much bigger and brighter it really looks, and which three of 2026's full moons qualify.
What actually makes a moon "super"
The moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle, so its distance from Earth varies over each cycle. A supermoon happens when a full moon lines up closely with perigee, the point in that orbit where the moon is nearest to Earth. The opposite, a full moon near apogee (farthest point), is sometimes called a micromoon.
"Supermoon" isn't an official astronomical term. It was coined by an astrologer in 1979, and different publications use slightly different distance cutoffs for which full moons qualify. This page uses the common definition most astronomy sites use today: a full moon within about 90% of perigee.
How much bigger and brighter it really looks
Less dramatic than the name suggests. A supermoon appears roughly 7 to 8% larger and about 16% brighter than an average full moon. Compared to a micromoon at the other end of the range, the difference is more noticeable, up to about 14% larger and 30% brighter. Side by side, you could see it. On its own in the sky on a given night, most people can't reliably tell a supermoon apart from a regular full moon just by looking.
2026's three supermoons
- January 3 -- the Wolf Moon
- November 24 -- the Beaver Moon
- December 24 -- the Cold Moon, the closest and biggest full moon of the year
See the full moon calendar for exact times for all 13 of 2026's full moons.
Supermoon vs. blue moon vs. blood moon
These three terms get mixed up because they're all "special" full moon labels, but they describe completely different things. A blue moon is about timing on the calendar (a second full moon in one month), not distance or color. A blood moon is a total lunar eclipse, where Earth's shadow turns the moon red. A supermoon is purely about orbital distance. A single full moon could technically be more than one of these at once, though none of 2026's supermoons happen to also be a blue or blood moon.
How to actually see one
The same way you'd watch any full moon: look toward the eastern horizon shortly after sunset on the date, no equipment needed. A supermoon can look especially striking low on the horizon, but that's mostly the moon illusion at work, a perceptual effect that makes any full moon look bigger near the horizon, not something unique to supermoons.
The definition, size/brightness percentages, and 2026 supermoon dates above are checked against two independent live astronomy references, which agree on all three dates.
Sources: EarthSky, What's a Supermoon? Here Are the Supermoons in 2026 and BBC Sky at Night Magazine, We'll Get Three Supermoons in 2026.