2024 Hunter’s SuperMoon

The brilliant Hunter’s moon at its rising, October 16, 2024, downstate, New York. Note the internal reflection in the camera lens, creating a duplicate image. Image, courtesy, the author.

The October Full moon is also known as the Hunter’s moon and is the full moon following the Harvest moon.

Hunter’s Moon Lore

Lore has it that as winter approaches and the days get shorter, hunter’s of all types (human and animal) lose more daylight with each passing day in their quest for prey and to secure enough food for the long, cold winter. In the waning days of October, the full moon naturally extends the hunting period with its brilliant white light.

As the name suggests before the invention of the electric light, the light of the full moon gave aid to the farmers and hunters of old, extending the time during which they could either harvest their crops or hunt in preparation for the coming winter.

We’ve written extensively about the lore behind the moon’s names, most of which honor native traditions and coincide with seasonal events or refer to activities related to survival. This is especially relevant for hunter-gatherer or agrarian communities who depended on a plentiful harvest or hunt to survive. For example, last month’s full moon (September) was the Harvest moon since September’s full moon coincides with the Autumn harvest and is chronologically nearest the Autumnal Equinox.

Additional information on the lore of the moon and its names can be found here and here. It also should be noted that each full Moon name is applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred, not solely to the full Moon.

For moon fans, the month begins and ends with a New Moon. The Full Moon occurs precisely between each new moon on the 16th day. For additional details, a full lunar calendar and the lore behind each month’s Full Moon, please visit the Farmers Almanac. Additional information regarding calendars and phases of the moon can be found here.

Hunter’s Moon, 2024

This years Hunter’s moon occurs on the night of October 16-17, is seen at its rising in the image above and is also a Supermoon!

What is a SuperMoon?

This year’s Hunter’s moon is also a Supermoon, the 3rd of 4 for 2024.

Kepler’s First Law of Orbital Motion teaches us that all orbits are elliptical, some orbits more elliptical than others. This property of an ellipse, known as the eccentricity, depends, among other things, on the magnitude of the respective masses.

All elliptical orbits necessarily have an apogee, the most distant point in the orbit and a perigee, the closest point in the orbit to the other orbiting body. In the case of our moon, a supermoon occurs when the moon is at its perigee point during the full-moon phase. The moon will appear ever so slightly larger simply because it’s closer.

There are 4 supermoons in 2024, the first was August’s Sturgeon moon, then came September’s Harvest moon, October, and finally, November.

Full moon as imaged by the author with his 15 cm F/4.2 Newtonian astrograph. Prominently placed in the lunar southwest is the crater Tycho with its sprawling and easily identifiable crater ejecta and central peak. Note also the detail along the south and southeast lunar terminator.