Super full moon 2025

There have been quite some excitement among my friends that there would be a super-full moon today. They got all flustered up, thinking this was some rare celestial event happening. Actually, this phenomenon isn’t some rare cosmic miracle, but it always feels that way when we see one. It happens when the moon is full and coincidentally also at its closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit. Because the moon doesn’t travel in a perfect circle but in a slightly squashed ellipse, there are times when it swings a bit nearer to us. When that happens during a full moon, it looks noticeably larger and brighter than usual. 

Image by Kenj Ooi
from Penang Walkabouts facebook 

It is most noticeable when it first rises above the horizon, glowing low and heavy, almost too big for the sky. That’s partly an optical trick of the mind, but also the real effect of it being closer. The difference is only a few tens of thousands of kilometres, but that’s enough to give the moon a fullness and brilliance that photographs never quite capture. A super full moon, in other words, is the same familiar moon which is just a little nearer to us.

Super full moons usually come in a trio, over three consecutive months. So if we miss the first one, there are still two more chances to catch the others. For 2025, the super full moons will occur today at 11.47am, then on the fifth of November at 9.19pm and again on the fifth of December at 7.14am. Of course, in daylight we won’t see the October and December ones at their peak, but it’s comforting to know they’re there all the same.

Last night, being the fifteenth day of the eighth Chinese lunar month, I tried looking for the moon around 8.30pm, but thick clouds had covered the sky. At best, I could make out a faint brightness behind the haze. Even at 11.30pm, the situation wasn't any better. Then, quite unexpectedly, I woke around four in the morning and, unable to fall back asleep, stepped outside with my camera. The sky was perfectly clear, no cloud in sight, and there it was in the western sky — a brilliant orb of light. The super full moon in all its glory, shining at 99.8 percent illumination. As close as I could get, this time, to capturing the beauty of the October supermoon.