This is a dated observing guide for one event. Check the source calendar and local conditions before making plans. A later year needs its own fresh forecast.
Source review: . Reviewer and owner: Elin Sandström. Next review: . Recheck sooner if a linked source or tool changes. To report errors, email hello@skylumi.app.
When it happens
The US Naval Observatory puts the full Moon at 12:17 UTC on January 22, 2027. Convert that to your own clock before making plans. The Moon looks full for a night either side, so January 21 and January 23 both work.
Perigee falls at about 21:47 UTC on January 21. That is roughly 14 hours before the full phase. The short gap makes this the closest full Moon of the year.
How much bigger it actually looks
JPL Horizons puts the Moon 357,644 km from Earth’s centre at that instant. NASA’s own Moon facts page gives an average distance of 384,400 km.
That works out about 7% wider than a full Moon at the average distance. Against the most distant full Moon of 2027, on July 18, it is about 14% wider.
Seven percent is real and hard to notice. Nobody can compare tonight’s Moon with one from six months ago by memory. A photograph taken with the same lens each time will show it.
Who can see it
Anyone with a clear sky. A full Moon rises near sunset and sets near sunrise, so the whole night side of Earth gets a view. There is no narrow path here, unlike a solar eclipse.
The one thing that changes with place is your local moonrise time. Check it for your own city if you want to catch the Moon low over the horizon.
What you will and will not see
To the eye it is a bright full Moon. Its face looks flat, because sunlight arrives head on and casts almost no shadows. Full Moon is the worst phase for picking out craters.
Binoculars show the dark maria and the bright rays spreading from Tycho. For craters with shadows in them, wait about a week and look along the day-night line.
You will not see a Moon that looks obviously huge. A low Moon that seems enormous is the Moon illusion, and it happens at any distance.
A word with no official definition
NASA calls a supermoon a full Moon that coincides with the Moon’s closest approach to Earth. Its page says the term is not official. It usually means a full Moon within 90% of perigee.
NASA’s published list of upcoming supermoons stops at December 24, 2026. That page was last updated in February 2026, so it names no 2027 dates. The January 2027 full Moon meets NASA’s stated test, on USNO’s timing and JPL’s distance.
The next one
The next full Moon is February 20, 2027, at 23:23 UTC. It sits 363,300 km away, and Earth’s outer shadow crosses it that night. Read the penumbral eclipse guide for what that looks like.
Supermoons come in runs of three or four, then stop for most of a year. The closest of the current run is December 24, 2026, at 356,700 km.
Sources and image credits
- US Naval Observatory: Moon phases for 2027. Full Moon on January 22, 2027 at 12:17 UT, and every other 2027 phase, fetched 8 September 2026.
- NASA JPL Horizons. Geocentric distance of the Moon at each 2027 full-Moon instant, fetched 8 September 2026.
- NASA: what is a supermoon?. The definition, the 90%-of-perigee rule and the published list of upcoming supermoons, fetched 8 September 2026.
- NASA: Moon facts. The 384,400 km average distance used for the size comparison, fetched 8 September 2026.
Written for beginners from the sources above. How we research and correct the library. Found an error? Tell us.