Beaver Moon 2024: Watch the year’s final ‘supermoon’ rise alongside the ‘Seven Sisters’

On November 14, 2024By Littum

The fourth and final “supermoon” of 2024 will be 100% illuminated on Friday, November 15 – but the best time to see it from North America will be when it rises in the east on November 16.

of November full moon is typically called Beaver Moon for the beavers who typically build their winter dams at this time of year in the northeastern United States, according to timeanddate.com. It is also called the Frost Moon and the Snow Moon in North America because the continent is on the edge of winter and the colder temperatures that come with it. The Anishinaabeg people call the August moon “Baashkaakodin Giizis,” meaning “the freezing moon,” according to Center for Native American Studies.

This year’s Beaver Moon is the last of four supermoons in 2024, following August’s Sturgeon Moon, September’s Harvest Moon and October’s Hunter’s Moon. A supermoon is a consequence of the moon’s elliptical orbit, meaning that the moon reaches its closest point to Earth, known as perigee, at a slightly different time each month. When a full moon comes within 90% of perigeeit’s a supermoon.

Related: The first ‘major lunar standstill’ in more than 18 years is about to occur. That’s how you see it.

Although the moon will officially be full at 16:28 EST (21:28 UTC) on November 15, a full moon is best observed when it rises in the east during early twilight, shortly after the sun has set in the west. It doesn’t quite happen on November 15 in North America, where the full moon rises significantly before sunset. So the best time to see the supermoon is at moonrise on Saturday (November 16), which will be about 20 to 30 minutes after sunset across the continent.

If you look at the Beaver Moon on the night of November 15, the twinkling Pleiades open star cluster, also known as “The Seven Sisters,” will be in the lower left. On November 16, the Pleiades will be at the upper right of the moon.

You can look at the full moon without optical aids, but if you catch it at moonrise, stargazers and backyard telescopes can help reveal details on the moon’s surface that aren’t visible to the naked eye. When the full moon rises, its glare increases significantly, making it difficult to see it directly.

The 12th and final full moon of 2024 will be the “cold moon”, rising on December 15th.