🌕 Eyes to the skies for September’s full Moon - the "Harvest" Moon! 🌾 💖🌕🔭✨ – 26/09/2026

Tonight, on the evening of the 26th into the morning of the 27th (weather permitting) we will hopefully be treated to views of September's beautiful full moon which as the full moon that is closest to the autumn equinox is known to some as the "Harvest" Moon.

Although the full Moon may not always be the astrophotographer's best of friends, the full Moon always makes for a beautiful sight in the night sky and is an important marker of the seasons for many people.

If you would like to know more about this month's full moon, plus when and where to see the Harvest Moon, please read on…

🌕 What is a full Moon?

A full Moon occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. This alignment is also known as a Syzygy (a straight line arrangement of three or more celestial bodies). When this happens, the side of the Moon that can be seen from Earth is almost completely illuminated, giving it the appearance of being full.

On rare occasions the Earth can stand directly in between the Sun and Moon resulting in a lunar eclipse.

🌝 Full Moon names

The full moon of each month has been given names by many cultures and peoples throughout history. The most commonly known full moon names are derived from Native American tribes. The Native American tribes gave distinctions to moons based on the time of year and the weather's relationships to crop harvests and appearance of certain animals or animal behaviours.

🌾 The "Harvest" Moon

This month’s full moon is particularly special as it is the full moon which falls nearby to the autumnal equinox (whereby the day and night are roughly the same length). The Full Moon closest to the Autumn equinox is often known as the Harvest Moon. This sometimes occurs during October, however this year it occurs during the month of September.

As the farmers prepared to gather their crops each autumn, they looked to September’s full Moon as a sign that it was time to harvest. At the end of September, crops that were seeded in Spring are now ready to be harvested. It is the final harvest of the year, so crops, fruit and grain such as corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice are harvested and stored to last through the winter months. 

Some sources suggest that the Harvest Moon’s name has origins as early as the 700’s found in Germanic and Anglo-Saxon literature. Either way, the importance of the Harvest Moon is very much the same for people across the Northern Hemisphere.

At the peak of the harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of this Moon. Unlike other moons, this full moon rises at nearly the same time for several evenings in a row, giving farmers extra evenings of moonlight to gather their crops before the frosts of autumn arrive.

🔬 Scientific explanation for the Moon’s rise times around the Harvest Moon

The Moon usually rises, on average, around 50 minutes later from one day to the next, although the actual difference varies. However, around the Harvest Moon, successive moonrises can be much closer together.

The reason is the shallow angle of the ecliptic (the general path followed by the Moon across the sky) against the eastern horizon on evenings around the autumn equinox. At other times of year, the angle of the ecliptic against the horizon is steeper.

Around the autumn equinox, as the Moon moves along this shallow-angled path from one night to the next, more of its movement is sideways along the horizon and less is upwards from it. That means it takes less additional time for the Moon to rise on successive evenings.

The effect varies with your latitude and is generally more pronounced farther north.

🌍 Other alternative September full Moon names

Other names attributed to this full moon are often attributed to the time of year (late Summer into early Autumn), such as the Autumn Moon (Cree), the Falling Leaves Moon (Ojibwe), Leaves turning Moon (Anishinaabe), Moon of Brown Leaves (Lakota), Yellow Leaf Moon (Assiniboine), the Corn Maker Moon (Western Abenaki) and Corn Harvest Moon (Dakota).

The behaviour of animals is also a common theme, with Child Moon (Tlingit) referring to the time when young animals are weaned, and Mating Moon and Rutting Moon (both Cree) describing the time of year when certain animals, like moose, elk, and deer, are looking to mate.

📍 When and where will the full Moon occur?

This month, the Moon reaches syzygy with the Earth and Sun at around 17:49 BST during the daytime on the 26th of September.

This means that the night the Moon will appear most full will be the night of the 26th into the morning of the 27th of September.

The Moon will rise in the evening of the 26th at around 18:26 BST towards the East. As the night progresses the Moon will climb in the sky travelling towards the South where the Moon will reach its highest point in the sky at an altitude of 41 degrees at roughly 01:02 BST on the morning of the 27th. Following this, the Moon will begin to descend travelling towards the West where it will set in the morning skies at around 07:58 BST.

Remember that you don't really need to know the exact time of peak illumination to enjoy viewing the full Moon, as the Moon will appear full throughout the night and on the nights surrounding the peak.

⭐ Where among the stars can the Moon be found?

On the night of the 26th our natural satellite will be hitching a ride in the zodiacal constellation of Pisces.

More specifically, on this night the Moon can be found in the western half of Pisces and nearby to the bright planet Saturn.

The zodiacal constellation of Pisces can be found in between the constellations of Aquarius and Aries and also below the constellations of Pegasus and Andromeda.

👁️ Lunar observation

The great thing about observing the Moon is that you don't have to go and find a particularly dark location to view it. As the Moon is such a bright object in the sky, you can view it from brighter locations, even from the centre of a heavily light polluted city. Weather permitting of course.

🌅 Moon rise/set - Moon illusion

It's always lovely to watch the moon rise/set, so if you can head out to witness the Moon rise or set, please do. Every time the Moon rises and sets it takes on a beautiful golden, amber colour and appears larger at this time too, due to an optical illusion known as the 'Moon illusion'. It's truly special to witness. As it rises and glides higher, its colour will transition into a bright white.

Sometimes the Moon can appear even more orangey red than usual too! The hue of the moon typically depends on atmospheric conditions wherever you're viewing it from. Things like clouds, dust, haze, smoke or pollution can cause the moon to appear different colours by scattering much of the blue light shining onto our natural satellite, leaving it with a more reddish tone.

🌌 What else is in the night sky throughout September?

If you would like to know more about the rest of the celestial treats that can be seen in the skies throughout September, please head to our YouTube channel to watch our Night Sky Guide video for September 2026 or you can watch the video on our website.

📸 Share your experiences and photographs!

We always love hearing about your celestial adventures and seeing your photographs! If you head out to witness or capture photos of this special celestial event or any other sights in the night sky, please feel free to share your stories and photos in the comments below. 😊

💫 Good luck and clear skies

This month's full Moon will be a beautiful sight, and if you can, we recommend heading out to witness this September's Harvest Moon!

Good luck if you head out folks. Wrap up warm if you do. Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Clear skies 💖