A full moon occurs when Earth is positioned roughly between the sun and the moon, so the moon's entire sunlit face is turned toward us. It happens once every synodic month — about 29.53 days — though because that's shorter than most calendar months, some months get two full moons (see: blue moon).
Why the moon doesn't look "backlit" every month
You might expect a full moon to be blocked by Earth's shadow every time, the way a lunar eclipse works. It isn't, because the moon's orbit is tilted about 5 degrees relative to Earth's orbit around the sun. Most months, the moon passes slightly above or below Earth's shadow. A lunar eclipse only happens when a full moon lines up closely enough with that shadow — which is why eclipses are occasional, not monthly.
Traditional full moon names
Many English-language full moon names come from Native American, colonial American, and European folk traditions, tied to seasonal and agricultural markers:
- January — Wolf Moon
- February — Snow Moon
- March — Worm Moon
- April — Pink Moon
- May — Flower Moon
- June — Strawberry Moon
- July — Buck Moon
- August — Sturgeon Moon
- September — Harvest Moon (or Corn Moon, in years the Harvest Moon falls in October)
- October — Hunter's Moon
- November — Beaver Moon
- December — Cold Moon
Full moons and tides
At both full and new moons, the sun, Earth, and moon are roughly aligned, which combines their gravitational pull and produces stronger "spring tides" — higher highs and lower lows than average. This alignment is also the folk-astronomical basis some yoga traditions cite for treating full and new moons as days of heightened bodily sensitivity.
See the exact date and time of the next full moon on the homepage, or browse the full 2026 full moon calendar.