Brightest supermoon of 2025 lights up the sky this week
As the penultimate month of the year begins, the brightest supermoon of the year is almost here. The Full Beaver Moon rises on Wednesday, November 5th and you can see it until Thursday, November 6th. Although it is the second in a series of three consecutive supermoons, it will be brighter than December’s Cold Moon. Here’s what you need to know.
When is the November supermoon?
The November full moon will reach peak illumination in the United States on Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 8:19 a.m. EST.
However, since the sun will already be up for many of us, be sure to pay attention on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, as the moon rises in the east at dusk. You can use this handy moonrise and moonset calculator from the Farmer’s Almanac to calculate when the moon rises and sets where you live.
What is a supermoon?
November’s full moon is only the second supermoon of 2025 and is expected to be the brightest. The Moon will approach about 222,000 miles from Earth this week.
When the Moon orbits the Earth, it does not follow a perfect circle. As it moves around our home planet, it will get closer and closer and take on a more elliptical shape.
Supermoons occur when the full moon is closer to Earth in its orbit. NASA says the full moon can appear up to 14% larger and about 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year. April’s Pink Moon was the faintest full moon of 2025.
Why is it called the Beaver Moon?
Each full moon has names that usually come from Native American tradition. The name Beaver Moon refers to the time of year when beavers begin sheltering in their lodges, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. By November in North America, these ecosystem engineers already have enough food reserves for the long winter and are settling into their lodges along rivers and streams. At the height of the North American fur trade, fall was also the season for trapping beavers, as their pelts were thick and ready for winter.
According to the Center for Native American Studies, November’s full moon is also sometimes called “Baashkaakodin Giizis,” or the Freezing Moon.
Does the supermoon affect the tides?
Tides on Earth are caused by the gravitational pull between our oceans, the sun and the moon. When the Moon is closer to Earth during a supermoon, the gravitational pull is slightly stronger and the tides are larger. Yet this effect doesn’t really make a huge difference, since there is only a few centimeters difference between a normal moon tide and a supermoon tide, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich in the United Kingdom.
Full moon and new moon tides can actually be larger than those at other times of the lunar month, even a supermoon. When the sun adds its own gravitational pull, a strong spring tide or king tide is generated due to all the water “gushing up” during a full and new moon.
The same general rules for observing the sky are essential when looking at the supermoon. Try going to a dark place, away from the bright lights of a city or town, and let your eyes adjust to the darkness for about half an hour. You can also check out these handy tips for photographing the moon like a pro.
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