Watch the 1st supermoon of 2025 shine tonight with this free Harvest Moon livestream

International Observe the Moon Night 2025: online observation – 7 October. 2025 - YouTube

The October Full Moon, also known as the Harvest Moon or Hunter's Moon, rises today, marking the first supermoon of the year.

You can watch the lunar spectacle live online thanks to a free livestream from astronomer Gianluca Masi and his Virtual Telescope Project in Manciano, Italy. The webcast begins at 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT on Oct. 7), and you can watch it live here on Space.com (via the video above) or directly on the Virtual Telescope Project's WebTV or YouTube channel, weather permitting.

"At The Virtual Telescope project, we love sharing live views of our satellite: the upcoming supermoon is a wonderful opportunity to invite our community to look up, the first step to discover the wonderful universe where we live," Masi told Space.com in an email.

Why is this full moon special?

October's full moon occurs at 11:48 p.m. EDT on Oct. 6 (0348 GMT Oct. 7), when the moon lies opposite the sun in Earth's sky and appears fully illuminated. Known as the "Harvest Moon," this lunar event takes its name from the time of year when farmers traditionally harvested crops under the bright glow of the moonlight following the autumn equinox.

While the moment of full illumination is the same worldwide, moonrise and set times vary depending on your location. For example, in New York City, the Harvest Moon will rise at about 6:08 p.m. EDT and set the following morning at around 7:25 a.m. In Los Angeles, moonrise is later, at about 6:29 p.m. PDT (9:29 p.m. EDT), while in London, the full moon rises at 6:20 p.m. BST (1720 GMT).

This month's moon is also a supermoon, appearing slightly larger and brighter than a typical full moon because the moon is near perigee, its closest point to Earth in its orbit. While the size difference is subtle, supermoons are always a treat to watch — especially near the horizon, where the moon can appear even larger due to the "moon illusion".

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Daisy Dobrijevic joined Space.com in February 2022 having previously worked for our sister publication All About Space magazine as a staff writer. Before joining us, Daisy completed an editorial internship with the BBC Sky at Night Magazine and worked at the National Space Centre in Leicester, U.K., where she enjoyed communicating space science to the public. In 2021, Daisy completed a PhD in plant physiology and also holds a Master's in Environmental Science, she is currently based in Nottingham, U.K. Daisy is passionate about all things space, with a penchant for solar activity and space weather. She has a strong interest in astrotourism and loves nothing more than a good northern lights chase!

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