Hunter's Moon 2026: Full Oct. 26 at 12:12 a.m. EDT, 20 Cities

Updated Oct. 30, 2026, 1:05 a.m. ET. The Hunter's Moon has passed; it was full at 12:12 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, per the U.S. Naval Observatory. The next full moon is the Beaver Moon at 9:53 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2026.

October’s full moon, the Hunter’s Moon, was full at 12:12 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO). Everywhere west of the Eastern time zone, that moment fell on Sunday evening, Oct. 25, which made Sunday the night to watch the moon come up in the east around sunset.

When the moon is full, by time zone

Time zone	Full moon
Eastern (EDT)	12:12 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26
Central (CDT)	11:12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25
Mountain (MDT)	10:12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25
Arizona (MST)	9:12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25
Pacific (PDT)	9:12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25
Alaska (AKDT)	8:12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25
Hawaii (HST)	6:12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25

The full moon is a single instant, which was 04:12 Coordinated Universal Time on Oct. 26. To the eye, the moon looks full for about a day on either side of it.

Moonrise on Sunday and Monday

City	Moonrise Sun., Oct. 25	Moonrise Mon., Oct. 26	Sunset Sun., Oct. 25
New York	5:26 p.m.	5:58 p.m.	6:01 p.m.
Boston	5:11 p.m.	5:42 p.m.	5:47 p.m.
Washington, D.C.	5:42 p.m.	6:16 p.m.	6:16 p.m.
Atlanta	6:21 p.m.	6:59 p.m.	6:52 p.m.
Miami	6:16 p.m.	6:58 p.m.	6:44 p.m.
Chicago	5:19 p.m.	5:51 p.m.	5:54 p.m.
Dallas	6:14 p.m.	6:52 p.m.	6:43 p.m.
Houston	6:12 p.m.	6:53 p.m.	6:41 p.m.
Denver	5:35 p.m.	6:08 p.m.	6:06 p.m.
Phoenix	5:15 p.m.	5:53 p.m.	5:43 p.m.
Seattle	5:27 p.m.	5:54 p.m.	6:03 p.m.
San Francisco	5:50 p.m.	6:25 p.m.	6:19 p.m.
Los Angeles	5:39 p.m.	6:17 p.m.	6:07 p.m.

Local times for each city center, from USNO rise and set data. The printable below covers 20 cities.

On Sunday the moon cleared the horizon before or right at sunset in most cities, so it appeared low, large-looking and orange-tinted in twilight. That color comes from sunlight passing through more of Earth’s atmosphere near the horizon; the size is an illusion, since the moon is no closer when it is low.

Why it is called the Hunter’s Moon

The Hunter’s Moon is the first full moon after the Harvest Moon, which was full on Sept. 26 this year. The Old Farmer’s Almanac describes the name as marking the seasonal shift from gathering crops to preparing meat for winter. The almanac also lists Native American names for October’s moon, including the Falling Leaves Moon (Anishinaabe), the Migrating Moon (Cree) and the Drying Rice Moon (Dakota).

Like the Harvest Moon, it rises at a similar time on several evenings in a row at northern latitudes. In New York, moonrise was only 32 minutes later on Monday than on Sunday, compared with the average gap of about 50 minutes between moonrises.

No full moon on Halloween

By Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, the moon had waned to about 63% lit. It rose around 11 p.m. in most U.S. cities: 10:59 p.m. in New York, 10:52 p.m. in Chicago and 11:24 p.m. in Los Angeles. Trick-or-treating, on the last evening before clocks fell back on Nov. 1, was dark; see our Halloween sunset times.

The next full moons

Name	Date	Time (Eastern)
Beaver Moon	Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2026	9:53 a.m. EST
Cold Moon	Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2026	8:28 p.m. EST

The Cold Moon rises in New York on Dec. 23 at 3:58 p.m. and is still 99% lit on Christmas Eve. For every full moon of next year, see our 2027 moon phases calendar.

Other sky events around the Hunter’s Moon

The Orionid meteor shower peaked the night of Oct. 21-22, while the moon was still waxing; our Orionid guide explained how to watch after moonset. The Taurids and Leonids follow in November: NASA’s November 2026 skywatching guide, published Nov. 2, puts the Southern Taurid peak around Nov. 5 and the Leonids in the early mornings of Nov. 17 and 18; see November meteor showers.

Mark the dates on our October, November and December printable calendars, and print the moon phase calendar below.