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Full moon calendar 2026: When to see the next full moon

ByTariq MalikContributions fromDaisy Dobrijeviclast updated2 February 2026

Here are the dates for the full moons in 2026.

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a full moon in a pink hued sky behind a castle ruin. — Full moon rising behind Corfe Castle, Dorset, U.K.(Image credit: Josh Dury)

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When is the next full moon?

Thenext full moon will occur onTuesday, March 3. It will reach 100% illumination at6:38 a.m. EST (1138 GMT). A total lunar eclipse will be visible to skywatchers across North America. To find out more, check out our March 2026 total lunar eclipse guide.

Local moonrise and moonset times vary depending on your viewing location. The moon will still appear full the night before and after its peak to the casual stargazer.

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And sometimes — once in ablue moon — the moon is full twice in a month (or four times in a season, depending on which definition you prefer).

If you want to know what you can see tonight check out our night sky live blogor if you want to plan further ahead ourmonthly skywatching guidehighlights key targets for the month.

How to see the full moon

Fancy taking a more in-depth moonlit tour of our rocky companion? Ourultimate guide to observing the moon will help you plan your next skywatching venture whether it be exploring the lunar seas, mountainous terrain, or the many craters that blanket the landscape. You can also see where astronauts, rovers and landers have ventured with ourApollo landing sites observing guide.

You can prepare for the next full moon or eclipse with our guides onhow to photograph the moon andhow to photograph a lunar eclipse. If you need imaging gear, consider ourbest cameras for astrophotography andbest lenses for astrophotography to ensure you're ready for your next skywatching venture.

If you're looking for binoculars or a telescope to observe the moon, check out our guides for thebest binoculars andbest telescopes.

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2026 full moon dates

This is when full moons will occur in 2026, according toNASA's SKYCAL

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Full moon dates for 2026
Date	Name	U.S. Eastern Time	U.K. time
Jan. 3	Wolf Moon	5:03 a.m. (EST)	1003 (GMT)
Feb. 1	Snow Moon	5:09 p.m. (EST)	2209 (GMT)
March 3	Worm Moon	6:38 a.m. (EST)	1138 (GMT)
April 1	Pink Moon	10:12 p.m. (EDT)	0212 April 2 (BST)
May 1	Flower Moon	1:23 p.m. (EDT)	1723 (BST)
May 31	Blue Moon	4:45 a.m. (EDT)	0845 (BST)
June 29	Strawberry Moon	7:57 p.m. (EDT)	2357 (BST)
July 29	Buck Moon	10:36 a.m. (EDT)	1436 (BST)
Aug. 28	Sturgeon Moon	12:18 a.m. (EDT)	0418 (BST)
Sept. 26	Corn Moon	12:49 p.m. (EDT)	1649 (BST)
Oct. 25	Hunter's Moon	11:12 p.m. (EDT)	0312 Oct. 26 (GMT)
Nov. 24	Beaver Moon	9:53 a.m. (EST)	1453 (GMT)
Dec. 23	Cold Moon	8:28 p.m. (EST)	0128 Dec. 24 (GMT)

Note: Local moonrise times will vary depending on your location.

The 2026 full moon names explained

Many cultures have given distinct names to each month's full moon. The names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. TheFarmer's Almanac lists several names that are commonly used in the United States. There are some variations in the moon names, but in general, the same ones were used among the Algonquin tribes from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names.

Other Native American people had different names. In the book "This Day in North American Indian History" (Da Capo Press, 2002), author Phil Konstantin lists more than 50 native peoples and their names for full moons. He also lists them on his website,AmericanIndian.net.

Chinese moon names:

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Month	Name
January	Holiday Moon
February	Budding Moon
March	Sleepy Moon
April	Peony Moon
May	Dragon Moon
June	Lotus Moon
July	Hungry Ghost Moon
August	Harvest Moon
September	Chrysanthemum Moon
October	Kindly Moon
November	White Moon
December	Bitter Moon

The phases of the moon explained

Themoon is a sphere that travels once around Earth every 27.3 days. It also takes about27 days for the moon to rotate on its axis. So, the moon always shows us the same face; there is no single "dark side" of the moon. As the moon revolves around Earth, it is illuminated from varying angles by the sun — what we see when we look at the moon is reflected sunlight. On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, which means sometimes it rises during daylight and other times at night.

There are fourphases of the moon, new moon, first quarter moon, full moon and third quarter moon.

Atnew moon, the moon is between Earth and the sun, so that the side of the moon facing toward us receives no direct sunlight, and is lit only by dim sunlight reflected from Earth.

A few days later, as the moon moves around Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight. This thin sliver is called thewaxing crescent.

A week after the new moon, the moon is 90 degrees away from the sun in the sky and is half-illuminated from our point of view — what we callfirst quarter because it is about a quarter of the way around Earth.

A few days later, the area of illumination continues to increase. More than half of the moon's face appears to be getting sunlight. This phase is called awaxing gibbous moon.

When the moon has moved 180 degrees from its new moon position, the sun, Earth and the moon form a line. The moon’s disk is as close as it can be to being fully illuminated by the sun, so this is calledfull moon.

Next, the moon moves until more than half of its face appears to be getting sunlight, but the amount is decreasing. This is thewaning gibbous phase.

Days later, the moon has moved another quarter of the way around Earth, to thethird quarter position. The sun's light is now shining on the other half of the visible face of the moon.

Next, the moon moves into thewaning crescent phase as less than half of its face appears to be getting sunlight, and the amount is decreasing.

Finally, the moon moves back to itsnew moon starting position. Because the moon’s orbit is not exactly in the same plane as Earth’s orbit around the sun, they rarely are perfectly aligned. Usually the moon passes above or below the sun from our vantage point, but occasionally it passes right in front of the sun, and we get aneclipse of the sun.

Each full moon is calculated to occur at an exact moment, which may or may not be near the time the moon rises where you are. So when a full moon rises, it’s typically doing so some hours before or after the actual time when it’s technically full, but a casual skywatcher won’t notice the difference. In fact, the moon will often look roughly the same on two consecutive nights surrounding the full moon.

Lunar eclipses of 2026

Lunar eclipses are inextricably tied to the full moon. To find out where and when you can see thenext lunar eclipse, check out our lunar eclipse guide.

When the moon is in its full phase, it passes behind the Earth with respect to the sun and can pass through Earth's shadow, creating a lunar eclipse. When the moon is fully inside the Earth's shadow, we see a total lunar eclipse. At other times, the moon only partially passes through the Earth's shadow in what is known as a partial, or even penumbral lunar eclipse (when the moon only skirts through the outermost region of Earth's shadow).

There are two lunar eclipses in 2026: Atotal lunar eclipse on March 2-4 and a partial lunar eclipse on Aug.27-28.

Solar eclipses of 2026

When the moon is in its "new" phase, it passes between the Earth and the sun, so the side facing the Earth appears dark. To find out when and where you can see the next solar eclipse, check out oursolar eclipse guide.

Occasionally, the moon's orbit lines up with the sun in such a way that part or all of the sun can be blocked by the moon, as viewed from Earth. When the moon completely blocks the sun's disk, we see a totalsolar eclipse during the day, which can be a truly awe-inspiring sight. Other times, the moon can only partially block the sun in a partial solar eclipse.

The moon can even create a "ring of fire" solar eclipse when it passes directly in front of the sun, but is at a point in its orbit that is too far from Earth to fully cover the sun's disk. This leaves a ring, or "annulus," around the moon to create what is called an annular solar eclipse.

There are two solar eclipses in 2026.Anannular solar eclipse on Feb. 17and a total solar eclipse onAug. 12.

To keep up to date on all our solar eclipse coverage, head to oursolar eclipse live updates page.

More full moon and night sky resources

Tariq Malik

Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief ofSpace.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to theThis Week In Space podcast on theTWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter@tariqjmalik.

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