The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means that the lunar hemisphere facing Earth—the near side—is completely sunlit and appears as an approximately circular disk. The full moon occurs roughly once a month.
The time interval between a full moon and the next repetition of the same phase, a synodic month, averages about 29.53 days. Because of irregularities in the moon's orbit, the new and full moons may fall up to thirteen hours either side of their mean. If the calendar date is not locally determined through observation of the new moon at the beginning of the month there is the potential for a further twelve hours difference depending on the time zone. Potential discrepancies also arise from whether the calendar day is considered to begin in the evening or at midnight. It is normal for the full moon to fall on the fourteenth or the fifteenth of the month according to whether the start of the month is reckoned from the appearance of the new moon or from the conjunction.
Culturally and spiritually significant across many societies, full moons are associated with festivals such as Vesak in Buddhism and various Purnima observances in Hinduism. Many traditions have named specific full moons—like the harvest moon or hunter's moon—and linked them to seasonal or agricultural events. Folklore has associated full moons with insomnia, madness, and supernatural events, though scientific studies have not found consistent evidence of behavioral effects. In modern times, terms like "blood moon" and "blue moon" have entered popular use, often referring to lunar eclipses or rare lunar events.
A tabular lunar calendar will also exhibit variations depending on the intercalation system used. Because a calendar month consists of a whole number of days, a month in a lunar calendar may be either 29 or 30 days long.
Contents
Characteristics
A full moon is often thought of as an event of a full night's duration, although its phase seen from Earth continuously waxes or wanes, and is full only at the instant when waxing ends and waning begins. For any given location, about half of these maximum full moons may be visible, while the other half occur during the day, when the full moon is below the horizon. As the Moon's orbit is inclined by 5.145° from the ecliptic, it is not generally perfectly opposite from the Sun during full phase, therefore a full moon is in general not perfectly full except on nights with a lunar eclipse as the Moon crosses the ecliptic at opposition from the Sun.
Many almanacs list full moons not only by date, but also by their exact time, usually in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Typical monthly calendars that include lunar phases may be offset by one day when prepared for a different time zone.
The full moon is generally a suboptimal time for astronomical observation of the Moon because shadows vanish. It is a poor time for other observations because the bright sunlight reflected by the Moon, amplified by the opposition surge, then outshines many stars.
Moon phases
There are eight phases of the moon, which vary from partial to full illumination. The moon phases are also called lunar phases. These stages have different names that come from its shape and size at each phase. For example, the crescent moon is 'banana' shaped, and the half-moon is D-shaped. When the moon is nearly full, it is called a gibbous moon. The crescent and gibbous moons each last approximately a week.
Each phase is also described in accordance to its position on the full 29.5-day cycle. The eight phases of the moon in order:
new moon
waxing crescent moon
first quarter moon
waxing gibbous moon
full moon
waning gibbous moon
last quarter moon
waning crescent moon
Formula
The date and approximate time of a specific full moon (assuming a circular orbit) can be calculated from the following equation:
d
=
20.362000
+
29.530588861
×
N
+
102.026
×
10
−
12
×
N
2
{\displaystyle d=20.362000+29.530588861\times N+102.026\times 10^{-12}\times N^{2}}
where d is the number of days since 1 January 2000 00:00:00 in the Terrestrial Time scale used in astronomical ephemerides; for Universal Time (UT) add the following approximate correction to d:
−
0.000739
−
(
235
×
10
−
12
)
×
Lunar eclipses
When the Moon moves into Earth's shadow, a lunar eclipse occurs, during which all or part of the Moon's face may appear reddish due to the Rayleigh scattering of blue wavelengths and the refraction of sunlight through Earth's atmosphere. Lunar eclipses happen only during a full moon and around points on its orbit where the satellite may pass through the planet's shadow. A lunar eclipse does not occur every month because the Moon's orbit is inclined 5.145° with respect to the ecliptic plane of Earth; thus, the Moon usually passes north or south of Earth's shadow, which is mostly restricted to this plane of reference. Lunar eclipses happen only when the full moon occurs around either node of its orbit (ascending or descending). Therefore, a lunar eclipse occurs about every six months, and often two weeks before or after a solar eclipse, which occurs during a new moon around the opposite node.
In folklore and tradition
In Buddhism, Vesak is celebrated on the full moon day of the Vaisakha month, marking the birth, enlightenment, and the death of the Buddha.
In Arabic, badr (بدر ) means 'full moon', but it is often translated as 'white moon', referring to The White Days, the three days when the full moon is celebrated.
Full moons are traditionally associated with insomnia (inability to sleep), insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various "magical phenomena" such as lycanthropy. Psychologists, however, have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a full moon. They find that studies are generally not consistent, with some showing a positive effect and others showing a negative effect. In one instance, the 23 December 2000 issue of the British Medical Journal published two studies on dog bite admission to hospitals in England and Australia. The study of the Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dog bites were twice as common during a full moon, whereas the study conducted by the public hospitals in Australia found that they were less likely.
The symbol of the Triple Goddess is drawn with the circular image of the full moon in the center flanked by a left facing crescent and right facing crescent, on either side, representing a maiden, mother and crone archetype.
Full moon names
Historically, month names are names of moons (lunations, not necessarily full moons) in lunisolar calendars. Since the introduction of the solar Julian calendar in the Roman Empire, and later the Gregorian calendar worldwide, people no longer perceive month names as "moon" names. The traditional Old English month names were equated with the names of the Julian calendar from an early time, soon after the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England. This can be seen in the testimony of Bede from The Reckoning of Time (CE 725), where lunar month names are equated with the approximate Roman equivalents.
Some full moons have developed new names in modern times, such as "blue moon", as well as "harvest moon" and "hunter's moon" for the full moons of autumn.
The golden or reddish hue of the Harvest Moon and other full moons near the horizon is caused by atmospheric scattering. When the Moon is low in the sky, its light passes through a thicker layer of Earth's atmosphere, scattering shorter wavelengths like blue and violet and allowing longer wavelengths, such as red and yellow, to dominate. This effect, combined with environmental factors such as dust, pollutants, or haze, can intensify or dull the Moon's color. Clear skies often enhance the yellow or golden appearance, particularly during the autumn months when these full moons are observed.
Lunar eclipses occur only at a full moon and often cause a reddish hue on the near side of the Moon. This full moon has been called a blood moon in popular culture.
The "harvest moon" and the "hunter's moon" are traditional names for the full moons in late summer and in the autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, usually in September and October, respectively. People may celebrate these occurrences in festivities such as the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.
The "harvest moon" (also known as the "barley moon" or "full corn moon") is the full moon nearest to the autumnal equinox (22 or 23 September), occurring anytime within two weeks before or after that date. The "hunter's moon" is the full moon following it. The names are recorded from the early 18th century. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for "harvest moon" cites a 1706 reference, and for "hunter's moon" a 1710 edition of The British Apollo, which attributes the term to "the country people" ("The Country People call this the Hunters-Moon.") The names became traditional in American folklore, where they are now often popularly attributed to Native Americans. The Feast of the Hunters' Moon is a yearly festival in West Lafayette, Indiana, held in late September or early October each year since 1968. In 2010 the harvest moon occurred on the night of the equinox itself (some 51⁄2 hours after the moment of equinox) for the first time since 1991, after a period known as the Metonic cycle.
Hindu full moon festivals
In Hinduism, most festivals are celebrated on auspicious days. Many Hindu festivals are celebrated on days with a full moon night, called the purnima. Different parts of India celebrate the same festival with different names, as listed below:
Chaitra Purnima – Gudi Padua, Ugadi, Hanuman Jayanti (15 April 2014)
Vaishakha Purnima – Narasimha Jayanti, Buddha Jayanti (14 May 2014)
Jyeshtha Purnima – Savitri Vrata, Vat Purnima (8 June 2014)
Ashadha Purnima – Guru Purnima, Vyasa Purnima
Shravana Purnima – Upanayana ceremony, Avani Avittam, Raksha Bandhan, Onam
Bhadrapada Purnima – Start of Pitru Paksha, Madhu Purnima
Ashvin Purnima – Sharad Purnima
Kartika Purnima – Karthikai Deepam, Thrukkarthika
Margashirsha Purnima – Thiruvathira, Dattatreya Jayanti
Pushya Purnima – Thaipusam, Shakambhari Purnima
Magha Purnima
Phalguna Purnima – Holi
Lunar and lunisolar calendars
Most pre-modern calendars the world over were lunisolar, combining the solar year with the lunation by means of intercalary months. The Julian calendar abandoned this method in favour of a purely solar reckoning while conversely the 7th-century Islamic calendar opted for a purely lunar one.
A continuing lunisolar calendar is the Hebrew calendar. Evidence of this is noted in the dates of Passover and Easter in Judaism and Christianity, respectively. Passover falls on the full moon on 15 Nisan of the Hebrew calendar. The date of the Jewish Rosh Hashana and Sukkot festivals along with all other Jewish holidays are dependent on the dates of the new moons. Another continuing lunisolar calendar is the Chinese calendar, which places many of its most important festivals, such as Chinese New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival, according to lunisolar dates.
Intercalary months
In lunisolar calendars, an intercalary month occurs seven times in the 19 years of the Metonic cycle, or on average every 2.7 years (19/7). In the Hebrew calendar this is noted with a periodic extra month of Adar in the early spring. The Chinese calendar, by contrast, can place its intercalary month anywhere in the year, and does so based on finding the first month within a thirteen-month winter-solstice-to-winter-solstice period to include no major solar term.
Meetings arranged to coincide with full moon
Before the days of good street lighting and car headlights, several organisations arranged their meetings for full moon, so that it would be easier for their members to walk, or ride home. Examples include the Lunar Society of Birmingham, several Masonic societies, including Warren Lodge No. 32, USA and Masonic Hall, York, Western Australia, and several New Zealand local authorities, including Awakino, Ohura and Whangarei County Councils and Maori Hill and Wanganui East Borough Councils.